The spread of information on election related information has warped exponentially with the rise of digital. In some ways digital has made things easier with the ability to access realtime data and up to the minute accounts of what's happening across the country, regardless of where you're located. You can even watch the counting process livestream in certain places like Philadelphia according to Wired. However, in many ways it has become significantly more complicated to follow election ongoings.
There is no end to the different sources for election coverage, and figuring out a way to choose the right source and approach has become a topic in itself. The number of media sites covering tips on how to best watch the election is vast. One approach recommended by C-Net recommends a war-room-like multi screen setup. Scientific American on the other hand shares expert insider advice from a political scientist on the which polls to look at and even what legal sites to follow election related litigation. On the other end of the spectrum, for those looking to avoid the election news, or find distractions from the stress of it all there's many suggestions like those from Mashable.
On top of all of this choice, you also have the uncertainty of whether any given source is accurate or turstworthy. According to NPR, voters in this election were flooded with disinformation through many different sources, including email, social media, and robocalls. I always wonder who actually takes the time to listen to a robocall but regardless it's scary to see the proliferation of bad actors in the campaign and election process, despite learnings from previous years. And craziest of all, or maybe not for anyone who been awake for the last 4 years, the 'fake news' is coming from the incumbent president, using scare-tactics on social media to build distrust in the democratic process. At least companies like Facebook and Twitter have started to taking action to clarify POTUS' comments on their platforms, but it will be interesting to see how their action in this case sets the precedent for future management of content on their networks.
With all this craziness, we have come along way since early days of election news. Back in 1904, the New York times was delivering election news via a 'Bat-signal' type approach using search lights in different directions depending on the results from its building in Times Square. Of course that was only good for a relatively local population, but for those in the MYC metro, much better than waiting by the telegraph all night! I might actually prefer patiently waiting in blissful ignorance until a nationwide announcement in papers versus the current state of constant bombardment and endless scrolling updates.
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