Contact Us

Sara Fischer: Inside Fox News’ decision desk ahead of Election Day

FOX News Election Night Photo
Thought Leader: Sara Fischer
October 29, 2024
Source: AXIOS
Written by: Sara Fischer

This piece is by WWSG exclusive thought leader, Sara Fischer.

Fox News’ historic Arizona election call in 2020 wasn’t premature, the network’s longtime decision desk head Arnon Mishkin told Axios. But heading into this year’s election, Fox News is doing more to ensure the public understands how, why and when it calls certain races.

Why it matters: Fox News’ decision desk isn’t responsible for distributing results to thousands of newsrooms globally like the Associated Press, Edison Research or Decision Desk HQ do, but its coverage is expected to be the most watched of any major network on election night.

Zoom in: In being the first to call Arizona for Joe Biden in 2020, Fox News established itself as an authoritative voice on election night coverage, even if pollsters disagree on how the call was made.

Flashback: In 2020, the network showed the Arizona race call on a map on the screen before an anchor was prepared to fully explain it, Mishkin recalled.

Between the lines: Part of Fox News’ new election night strategy includes giving viewers more real-time data and better graphics to help visualize how close certain vote tallies will be.

“I think with the new technology, we’re able to tell that story in a much better way,” Mishkin said. “If you see it graphically, it becomes much clearer.”

The big picture: More news outlets are investing in transparency efforts as a way to hedge against any confusion on Election Day.

Relevant posts

Mark Esper in Action | Worldwide Speakers Group

Mark Esper heading back to K Street

Mark Esper joins Squire. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper is returning to the lobbying world following his stint leading the Pentagon during the Trump administration, joining Squire Patton…

Thought Leader: Mark Esper

Subscribe to the WWSG newsletter.

Check Availability

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

0
Speaker List
Share My List