Busy with Watson—How the editorial team experienced the US election

student buyback

What happened to big news portals like Watson during the US election? How are you preparing? How is election night going? We visited the editorial office.

Mees Vis,Loris Ruh,Yazan Erler,Jorit Baumberger

Preparation

The U.S. presidential election has dogged Watson for months. Over the past weeks and months, planning for the outcome tool has been underway and various preparation meetings have taken place.

A Watson employee completed this overview months before the election so that everything would be smooth in November.

A work plan will be drawn up on Wednesday evening. At least 12 people are on duty starting at 1am.

The number of articles mentioning the names of Trump, Biden and Harris since January 1, 2024 also shows the extent of Watson's attention to the US election. Until this summer, Watson published about 20 articles a week involving Trump or Biden (usually all in one article).

July’s attacks on Donald Trump heralded this hot phase. That week, Watson published a whopping 66 articles about Trump. Even after the attacks, Republicans still receive more attention than Harris or Biden:

Things got very serious on the Friday before the election, when election director Corsin Manser wrote in an editorial chat:

From the Watson team chat.

The weekend was quiet. Tuesday night, important to everyone who comes to the office in the evening: food:

Email from the Editor-in-Chief.

This is what the restock announced as an “original American treat” will look like.Image: Watson

In addition to the meals, all other preparations have been completed. The social media team has created corresponding posts for both election results. One of them will never be published.

election night

On Wednesday night, the editorial team had been busy since 1 a.m. Watson reporter Ralph Steiner reports directly from the Kamala Harris election party in Washington, D.C. Sabeth provided an update for her fans on Instagram:

Trump will win soon. Shortly after 5 a.m., the atmosphere in Watson's newsroom became increasingly depressing. Everyone wants Harris to win.

The two students had been watching the news station all morning.Image: Watson

The first contested state, North Carolina, will go to Trump at 5:40 a.m., following reports that “Trump leads in all swing states.” It soon became clear: If Harris didn't win Pennsylvania, she lost. “The race may be over,” political editor Peter Blunschi wrote in Live Quotes at 6:30 a.m.

Decide

Harris effectively lost Pennsylvania. At 7:24 a.m., Fox News reported that Pennsylvania would go to Trump and at 7:54 a.m. declared him the winner of the election. Ten minutes later, CNN also reported that Trump had won Pennsylvania. The election is over.

The remaining final victory votes are just a formality. The employees present almost stopped reacting to the news. It became obvious and they accepted it.

Soon after, Donald Trump took to the podium. Almost all Watson employees present gathered in front of the big TV, and the atmosphere was very somber.

The same cannot be said for Trump supporters on television. They chanted: “USA, America, America!” The president-elect declared: “This is a movement like I have never seen before.” He said: “We will help our country heal. Today we made history.” He wanted to thank the American people. She elected him the 45th and 47th President of the United States: “We will usher in a golden age for America.”

Everything that happens in the newsroom is recorded on a tablet.Image: Watson

after election

Donald Trump will be officially elected as the 47th President of the United States of America at 11:32 am Swiss time. He will take office on January 20, 2025. But the Watson editorial team’s reporting wasn’t over. Editor-in-Chief Nadine contacted the team on Thursday afternoon and sent a lengthy thank-you email. This ended the intense phase of the election.

Two days after the election, the hot phase for Team Watson ended.

In the coming hours, days, weeks and months, the editorial team will be busy with further analysis, classification and updates surrounding the incoming President of the United States. Because we saw in the chart at the beginning the frequency of articles about Trump, Harris, and Biden. That's here to stay, at least for Trump.

According to best-selling Swiss-American author Donna Leon (82), lies are often easier to tell than the truth.

“People want lies more than truth,” she said at the Bavarian Book Award ceremony in Munich, also referring to the U.S. presidential election.