Counting votes on a Sunday: A digital journalist’s challenge

(Image by © Illustration Works/Corbis)

Imagine it is a Monday, you have the boss at your 6 ‘o’ clock and he is coming right at you, would you have time to track the results of an election on TV? Probably not and that makes my life a whole lot easier. Your laptop or that news app on your phone becomes your go to and I, as a digital news producer, can serve up well-packaged content on a digital platform.

However, the Election Commission in its wisdom has decided to count the votes polled in Bihar on a Sunday in November. And that means you (the viewer) will be at home with the option of remaining glued to your TV, looking at the numbers flashing on a rather busy screen and listening to a plethora of views and analysis.

So what of the laptop, the iPad, and the mobile?

Here is where the digital news producer has a go-to — the ‘second screen’. According to some studies, 4 in 5 smartphones and tablet users use their mobile devices while sitting in front of the idiot box. The second screen it seems was born out of a sense of boredom — of people not knowing what to do when commercials are on and probably resorting to checking Facebook or Twitter. Now these social media site have become second-screen playgrounds. With a massive install base and one of the most popular social apps across app stores, the popularity and ease of use of Twitter puts it at the top of the list.

So how does that translate into coverage for a digital news producer? TV believes in continuity, most channels assume that the viewer has been on them since the beginning of coverage and there is little or no customization for individuals possible. In the specific context to election coverage, it means people don’t have the option of jumping the queue and going straight to the information they want. They also may not have all the information available for them to process what is being spoken about. In India’s busy TV-scape, screens often have busy lines scrolling and flashing, they might not necessarily parallel what is being said on the screen.

Your hand-held device (not the TV remote) gives you that power to jump the queue (without greasing palms, I may add). Information neatly packaged and tabulated — so that you the viewer gets to see only what s/he wants or how s/he wants it. It could also serve as an aid to understanding what the exalted analysts on TV are banging on about. For example, if they talk about a party losing ground in a certain area of the state, your phone may actually have that specific stat to help you understand why those 5 seats are so critical or why the anchor has spent an inordinately long time on a bellwether seat.

While most of the technology exists, I’ve not seen extremely successful dovetailing of TV and mobile apps to the extent that the idea ‘second screen’ suggests. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” sci-fi writer Arthur C Clarke had once said. When the mobile phone or tablet truly becomes a ‘second screen’ — a value-add to what’s on telly — that magic would’ve perhaps been achieved.

This article was first published in timesofindia.com

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