Covering the US election: Insights from Strathclyde Journalism students
How it happened
Sophie Smith, a fourth year History & Journalism, Media and Communication student and Chloe Ballantyne, a fourth year Journalism, Media and Communication & Politics and International Relations student, recently had the opportunity to travel to Pennsylvania to cover the US election for the Sunday National newspaper with Strathclyde lecturer, Richard Walker.
Fourth year and Masters Journalism, Media and Communication students were given the opportunity to enter a competition to assist with covering the US election in Philadelphia. They were tasked with submitting three story ideas they would like to investigate during the trip.
Atmosphere in Philadephia
Whilst in Pennsylvania, Chloe and Sophie spent two days in Philadelphia, interviewing locals on the street and attending last minute rallies.
The atmosphere was like a buzz of excitement everywhere, with the election all over the TV and the topic of discussion. People were happy to stop and chat, and were honest and willing to tell you what you wanted to hear about their preferred candidate. - Sophie
Many Democrat supporters were hugely optimistic about the election; however the Trump supporters were harder to come across. - Chloe
Taste of the American college experience
They then spent a further two days at Pennsylvania State University, where they got a taste of American college life, the opportunity to explore journalism facilities, speak to students around campus and attend an election watch party.
Atmosphere on campus
Chloe commented that the atmosphere on campus after the results came out was a feeling of disappointment. in comparison to beforehand:
Everywhere we went there were student groups there to encourage students to vote. The university had multiple polling stations within reach, including one on campus in the student hub! There was a clear movement to mobile voters, this was one of the main story ideas I wanted to investigate on my trip and the experience was so insightful I was able to write my story about this for the Sunday National. - Sophie
Electoral process differences
Access to polling stations
From speaking to locals, Sophie learnt that in some areas, the polling stations are more sparsely located, even in towns where there are thousands of residents. She was told of one town in Michigan with 9,000 residents that only has one polling station and two voting machines. This results in residents having to spend hours in long queues, significantly disrupting their working days during the election period.
Ballot box availability
Sophie discovered that counties with mainly a Democratic crowd may only have one ballot box per 400,000 people, resulting in lengthy travel journeys to submit votes. She was also told about experiences of people living in Republican counties:
that could have four ballot boxes for an area covering 2,000 people…This disenfranchisement is rife in the US restricting citizens’ ability to vote is against their constitution and so it can become very contested in the lead up to the election.
Sophie highlighted that voters were contacted by local representatives to convince them to vote for their candidates. She was told that the messages can be overbearing, with some receiving messages everyday.
Language used in advertising campaigns
Chloe was surprised at the controversial and hate-fulled adverts on TV and radio, compared to what is allowed in the UK.
Openness in political opinions
She also discovered that people are very open about their political opinions and who they are supporting during the election.
In the UK we are so secretive about our views, but over there it is completely different. They are happy to talk about all points of view on the whole and this was refreshing to hear so many different views and experiences!
Trip highlights
Sophie
Sophie enjoyed experiencing life at a US university, including seeing their Journalism department, meeting students and staff and getting a taste of campus life.
Walking into their many merchandise shops was like something I could have never imagined, their college spirit was like no other, any item of clothing you could imagine could be branded with the Penn State logo.
Chloe
Chloe's highlights were having the opportunity to explore Philadelphia including visiting the Rocky Statue and Liberty Bell. In addition, to trying typical foods like raising canes chicken fingers and a Philly Cheesesteak.
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