Election Night at the Bangor Daily
Election night is when the Editorial staff of the Bangor Daily News takes a deep breath, musters its “A” game and brings the entire resources of the newspaper to bear on what is usually the major scheduled news event of the year.
NESCom journalism students chat with BDN Editor Mark Woodward as they await election returns.
This year we were privileged to have writers, multi-media reporters and a photographer from NESCom sharing the newsroom floor with us, and anticipating each advance in the vote count as we worked to meet our respective deadlines.
The aspiring journalists from Husson, Wes Hart, Tim Simpson, Robbie Nesbitt, Nicky Raney, Chris Wager and remote broadcast engineer, radio student Paul Wolfe led by Journalism Instructor Anne Gabiannelli O’Reilly, also shared in our catered, election-night banquet. We were all in it together, covering the election and taking routine long walks down the hall to the conference room for soup, sandwiches, deserts, chips and soda. And also, for coffee. If you plan to be up all night covering an election, include plenty of food, and a bottomless coffee carafe.
This off-year election had magnified significance because of the referendum on Question 1, the repeal of the law passed by the Maine Legislature allowing same-sex marriage. The question placed Maine, the Bangor Daily News and NESCom directly in the eye of national and international interest in the outcome of the vote.
But the story NESCom wanted to tell was about the election-night process we go through at the Bangor Daily News. The NESCom team asked questions about the logistic challenges we face as a news organization covering the northern two-thirds of Maine. The students circulated among our staff, observing and inquiring, selectively interviewing BDN journalists with the goal of developing perspective on the people responsible for coordinating the efforts of reporters, editors, photographers, web and support staff at our newspaper.
Mike Dowd, BDN managing editor, recalls how “Students from NESCom interviewed me on three occasions as election night progressed. In each instance they asked intelligent questions about our operation, showing not only a reporter’s curiosity but a level of understanding about the technical challenges posed by our coverage that I would not have expected from college students.”
Editor Dowd, a former reporter and columnist, expressed the unanimous sentiment of BDN editors who interacted with NESCom students that night when he observed, “I was impressed with their enthusiasm not only for modern media, but for the election itself. It was refreshing to get a glimpse of our world through the eyes of the young.”
Rick Levasseur, the night editor responsible for the smooth operation of the process that integrates writing, editing, design and pagination of the daily paper, shared Dowd’s sentiments about the quality of questions from the NESCom team. Ever practical, always mindful of the clock and the need to start the presses on time, Levasseur added that in addition to their professionalism as they “listened and watched intently,” the NESCom students “politely stepped back when one of our deadlines approached.”
Editor Levasseur, whose background includes reporting and extensive experience as a desk editor, discovered there was an intangible benefit to having the students aboard for the election-night experience. “I particularly enjoyed the exuberance and enthusiasm they displayed during the evening,” said Levasseur, “as they shared our election returns with their radio audience. There were spontaneous ‘yahoos’ and genuine applause after some of the broadcasts. It’s great to see a younger generation of news reporters and broadcasters get pumped up about the profession.”
As for me, the roots go deep in time, back to the Maine Campus at UM, where I earned gas and recreation money as ad manager and business manager, and later in my first “real” job in advertising and continuity at WABI radio.
When Leigh-Anne Hurley sat in my office, taking notes, gently but deliberately asking about the past, building the highlight reel of 38 years in the news business, there were bitter-sweet moments of reflection: Surviving the ice storm of 1998, challenges to our business with the advent of the internet, the wee-hours headline decision of “Too close to call” on Bush-Gore…lots of memories.
With a distant radio background—but some things you never forget—I imagined the activity at the other end of the, at the station back at WHSN, where instructors Susan Patten and Jodi Veneziano were working with student editors, producers and news anchors.
Wearing my headset, answering Leigh-Anne’s questions, I looked around the makeshift NESCom studio in our conference room and felt the same energy and saw the same camaraderie, collaboration and attention to deadline and detail that Mike and Rick fostered in our newsroom.
I have to tell you, one of the brightest moments for me came after election night, today in fact as I was writing this. Heather Steeves the BDN editorial assistant who so capably works with her editors to produce the Midcoast Beacon and the The Weekly, came up to me in the newsroom and said there was photo of me on Twitter.
NESCom journalism students Leigh-Anne Hurley and Robert Nesbitt prepare for a live election
Somewhat apprehensive (In 38 years as a writer and editor I’ve made a lot of friends, but there are those out there who might not be charitably disposed toward me.) I went over to her computer to take a look. There on the screen was a moment, still and descriptive, of the NESCom team gathered at the table with me, talking shop, sharing the experience on election night. Best of all, my eyes were open and I wasn’t doing anything to embarrass myself.
You never know with journalists.
Thank you NESCom and Husson for making this election night, my last as a newspaper editor, so memorable for me and the staff at the BDN.
article by Mark Woodward
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