Given the fact pollsters got the the 2016 and 2020 US presidential election results wrong, Semafor co-founder Ben Smith believes old-fashioned journalistic methods are coming back into fashion. He told Press Gazette on Monday: “The kind of people who made fun of going to diners and talking to Americans about what they’re thinking are now kind of wondering what Americans in diners are thinking. And so I do think there’s a full circle there.
” Semafor’s coverage of the 2024 US election focuses around on-the-ground reporting from bellwether regions in the belief that this will provide early indications of where the election is heading. The site’s political reporter David Weigel has picked 20 counties that Semafor will report on as bellwethers starting with Terre Haute in Indiana. Over election night Semafor will fill in its bellwethers map to provide a point of difference in its reporting.
In an election that may not be called for days, these votes could also provide an early indication of who has won. Launched two years ago, Semafor is an advertising-funded news website that aims to provide a more global view. Its coverage is a mixture of original reporting and analysis (which is combined in the same article, so that reporters share their view as a postscript about what each story means).
In a polarised US media scene where even staying neutral can have harsh consequences ( as The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times found out in recent weeks ) Smith believes Semafo.