Inside LINK is a weekly column from our CEO, Lacy Starling. If you have questions you’d like Lacy to answer, email her at lacy@linknky.com.
The past month at LINK has been a whirlwind of activity, preparing for the midterm elections next week. (Reminder, early in-person voting starts today, so if you want to do your civic duty ahead of Election Day, you can.)
Because the NKY Metro has so many municipalities and school districts, covering elections here is truly a group effort. We committed to giving every competitive race coverage – we define a competitive race as a race where there are more candidates than there are seats – so we’ve been very busy building out our coverage, interviewing candidates, compiling responses to questionnaires and holding our election forums.
But it always comes to a head on election night. Our job is to bring you the most comprehensive election night coverage we can, and that involves a lot of people, and a lot of resources. We’ll have more than two dozen people working across five locations in order to bring you the fastest, most accurate coverage possible.
Here’s our plan:
We’ll be producing a live election night special, which will be streamed on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. Chief Content Officer Michael Monks and Politics and Government Reporter Mark Payne will be hosting from our office in Covington.
In the field, we’ll be on the ground with a team of two reporters and a producer at each of the Boone, Kenton and Campbell County courthouses, gathering results, interviewing candidates and officials, and reporting back, live, on what they are seeing. We’ll have Kaitlin Gebby reporting from Boone County, Kenton Hornbeck covering Kenton County, and Haley Parnell working from Campbell County.
We’ll also have reporters and photographers in the field all day Election Day, taking photos and talking to voters and poll workers.
Back at headquarters, we’re staffing six people to update our website, pull in results from our field reporters, and assist in producing our live show. They’ll be hard at work updating the data showing on the screen during our livestream, making sure we’re reporting when races are called, and posting stories and photos as they come in from the field.
This election, we’ve also joined the Associated Press (a big move, no matter what), which will give us access to the most robust election reporting in the country. Because of our partnership with the AP, we’ll be able to provide reporting on national races, and allow us to update the statewide election results much more quickly. Our website this election cycle will contain updates about the balance of power in Washington, giving our readers a one-stop shop for the election results they want.
Finally, to give folks a place to watch election results together, we’re hosting a Watch Party at the Globe in Covington. All are welcome to join us for some camaraderie, hors d’oeuvres, and a cash bar.
Just typing all this gets me excited. Our primary coverage was excellent and comprehensive, but we’ve really turned it up to 11 for the general. The NKY Metro deserves to have this kind of coverage of its elections, and I’m thrilled we’re able to give it to you.
