There will be a General Election within the next 4 months or so, and for me, like many local site publishers, this will be the first opportunity to give local coverage to an election campaign. In some areas there are council elections on the same day too. I can only imagine there will be a huge increase in the amount of stuff to publish from the various candidates' campaigns. So I thought I would start this post as a space to share ideas, thoughts and questions that may arise from covering an election campaign.
Online Q&A
It seems fairly logical to approach candidates and ask if they will take part in questioning. What's best - live chat format or by email? Same questions to all candidates or different? This also creates an opportunity for readers to get involved in submitting questions?
Real life hustings
An idea I had was to try and organise a proper, real life hustings between the candidates. This would be a real local service and be a great offline profile raiser for a site too. Could be expensive though, and will need a competent person to run proceedings. Would provide a lot of content for a site and creates opportunity for video / audio content too.
Impartiality
What, if any, issues surrounding impartiality will affect hyperlocal publishers?
Extremists
We all remember the controversy that surrounded Nick Griffin's appearance on BBC Question Time. If you are reporting on the campaigns of local candidates, will you also include candidates with extreme or controversial views?
Advertising
Will local political parties prove to be useful advertisers at the time of an election, and should you start soliciting ads soon? Or better not to alienate readers and steer clear of political ads?
Election night
Would you goto the election night count itself (if it is indeed on election night - apparently many places are trying to opt for the following day this time)?
Got any thoughts of your own on these topics, or additional ideas and questions to do with covering an election?