Campaign Audio from PRX

Michael Leland’s reporters had everything in place until the rain came. Then the ice. Then the snow. On Sunday night before the primary Wisconsin Public Radio’s News Director was at home on the phone with his reporters all over the state to see who could dig out and cover what.

“It was the most frustrating night of the primary. We had three reporters ready to cover things. There was a lot of scrambling to get people around. We had an inch and a half of rain that froze overnight. Then by midday it started snowing.”

Events were rescheduled, candidates didn’t show up, but all together things came together.

“For us the key for us was having reporters who have been through it before … especially on Sunday when things started falling apart. Just being flexible and having good people on the ground.”

Leland adds:”They really took the lead in keeping me informed as to what was on and what was off.”

In addition to posting raw audio to PRX, Leland used his nine reporters scattered over the state to produce nearly 40 election related stories over 11 days: 30 1:00+ wraps, three 3:30 features, and a four-part issue series that ran Tuesday-Friday the week before the primary. The series (which looked at Iraq, Health Care, Jobs, and Energy) used tape from stake-holders, local university professors, and other non-profit leaders.

What WPR’s issues series didn’t have a lot of was actual tape from the candidates talking about the issues. Two days after the primary Leland looked at what we at PRX are putting together and said it could have been a good resource had he know about it (especially the recent package on Clinton’s health plan).

Aside from weather, another of Leland’s main struggles in covering the election so close to home was working in blind tandem with NPR.

“The one challenge we had in dealing with a major national story was how the network was covering it. So we tried to keep to local issues important to the state. And we ended up trying to anticipate what the network would run because you have the issue that a [local] reporter piece would run just after a national piece.”

Overall, Leland is very happy with his reporters and thinks his listeners were better informed because of their hard work. If he had to name a disappointment? The candidates. They split town before the results were in.

“After all this coverage we did, we were at all the election watch party, but the candidates had moved on by then. It would have been great to have the victory speeches.”

A long time ago political campaigning centered around buttons. Snappy slogans stamped in mass and handed out by the candidates or their campaign mascots. Well-heeled campaigns turned those slogans into hokey jingles that sang the praises of politicians. We don’t really have that any more. Instead we have us, the MSM.

Most of my friends today resent election politicking as partisan pandering for the 20% of Americans who vote irrespective of political party. But even with our 8 second sound bites and horse race journalism, there’s a valid argument that we live in the most democratic era of US history. Not in my lifetime has there been so many forums in which presidential hopefuls can speak to the public (Here, of all things, Ron Paul’s interview with NORMAL is blast worldwide all so Americans can make an informed decision about who they want for president).

In this, PRX and Campaign Audio (RSS) are here to help. By curating and promoting raw audio from the election, news producers have easy access to material that can help their audience understand who and what they are voting for.

To get started, check out the audio collection underway here. For a more targeted search you might want to check here and navigate the tags on the right.