Election night offers television the chance to be cutting- edge, eye-catching, informative and, just possibly, wrong. The goal is not to venture that far.
One network will introduce holograms. Another has an electoral map projected on an ice rink. From giant outdoor projection screens to Twitter, the networks will experiment with delivering election news.
As if tallying votes wasn’t challenging enough.
The rule of the night is caution.
The networks learned a hard lesson in 2000 when they erroneously called the election for Al Gore.
“That plus or minus polling-error number is on-screen for a reason,” NBC’s Phil Alongi said.
He was in the NBC News control booth that night, when Tom Brokaw famously apologized for having “not just egg but an omelet” on his face.
“Bottom line: We will be cautious,” Alongi said. “Our marching orders are ‘get it right.’ ”
Similarly, CNN election guru David Bohrman said, “We’re not in a hurry. Our plan is to be right, not to be first.”
“You can’t discount exit polling, but understand it’s reflective of a sample,” Alongi said.
There’s a difference between “NBC has confirmed” and “NBC is reporting.” Similarly, there’s a difference between “too early” (not enough votes to make a projection) and “too close to call” (the statisticians aren’t comfortable calling a race).
Exit polling isn’t definitive, but “it starts to frame the story,” Alongi said.
While the networks maintain an embargo on calling races before all of a state’s polls are closed, they have no such restraint when it comes to competitive graphics and gizmos.
The wildest innovation: CNN’s holographic images.
Instead of showing them on a split screen, CNN will beam 3-D images of correspondents and spokesmen from the two campaign headquarters onto its New York set. Computer software will blend together the images gathered from 40 tiny cameras placed in a circle around the individual. They will seem to be talking to Wolf Blitzer and company.
“It might allow for more intimate conversation,” CNN’s Bohrman said.
Think “Star Trek” — and imagine the inevitable “Saturday Night Live” parody.
This year, an overhaul of exit-polling graphics is on tap, through virtual reality and green-screen animation. Investigative units are on alert, tracking voting problems and irregularities. The networks promise state-by- state results in real time, down to the county level.
ABC will treat the night like New Year’s Eve minus Dick Clark, transforming Times Square into “an outdoor global viewing event” on three screens (including the 23-story-high Reuters sign) as Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos hold forth.
CBS will offer live results, updated every 60 seconds, on its website. Katie Couric will follow up TV anchor duties with a live webcast, as she did after each convention.
NBC’s U.S. map on the Rockefeller Plaza ice rink will turn states blue and red as results are called. NBC will also have John McCain and Barack Obama banners rising 16 stories up its building at 30 Rock, counting to 270, the number of electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Fox News will unveil two new HD studios on election night, one for Fox News, anchored by Brit Hume, and one for Fox Broadcast, anchored by Shepard Smith. “The Strategy Room” will be webcast on from outside FNC’s New York headquarters. Expect to see crowds gathered around the 18-by-14-foot screen there, tuned to Fox News.
PBS is touting headlines on Twitter and mobile-phone updates in addition to Jim Lehrer’s “Newshour” coverage. NPR will venture into real- time returns via cellphones and live captioned radio broadcasts for the hearing-impaired.
Aiming for younger viewers, television continues to experiment with interactive Internet sites. Current, the Gore-backed channel, had some success with “Hacking the Debate” with Twitter. Now it intends to “Digg the Election” with the social-media site Digg. MTV will air an interview with Obama, asking questions submitted by viewers. (McCain declined the invitation.)
“Young people are on the verge of a massive turnout that could be the deciding factor in this election. MTV is going all out to capture this historic moment,” said Ian Rowe, MTV’s senior vice president of public affairs.
Niche programmers will seize the moment. A special titled “The First Black President!?: What Obama Means to America,” will play on BET at 6 p.m. Tuesday, leading into primetime coverage. Cable/satellite network TV One offers “a uniquely African-American cultural perspective” with Arthur Fennell, Joe Madison and Jacque Reid as co-anchors.
On Comedy Central, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will co-anchor from the same desk for the first time on “Indecision 2008: America’s Choice,” a satirical roundup, airing at 11 p.m. Tuesday locally.
Finally, for those who care more about spoiled rich kids dating than election returns, the CW network will be the only broadcast network airing regular programming on election night. Original episodes of “90210” and “Privileged” will run with two local election updates per hour on KWGN-Channel 2.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
On the air
KUSA-Channel 9/KTVD-Channel 20: Local coverage from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; KUSA will air its 10 p.m. newscast, then go to NBC News if warranted.
KCNC-Channel 4/KBDI-Channel 12: Local coverage from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.; a webcast, also 7-10 p.m., hosted by Brooke Wagner and Gloria Neal will focus on analysis with local bloggers.
KDVR-Channel 31: Coverage will “stay on until it’s over,” with local coverage from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. with Ron Zappolo and Libby Weaver. KDVR will then join the Fox network until 9 p.m., when it airs its newscast. Additionally, the website will feed results instantly.
KMGH-Channel 7: Local coverage will air on its 247 channel on digital Comcast, in addition to Web streaming from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
