Major media organizations expect record-breaking traffic on their websites as they follow results in the race between Republican John McCain and his Democratic opponent Barack Obama. TV networks' plans for heightened Web coverage would seem to serve their audiences well. This past Friday, TV trackers at Nielsen Media released a study suggesting Web surfing and watching TV go together. Thirty percent of online activity at home happens while users are watching TV, the study found. Among major news services, CNN predicts more than 1 billion page views on its Web site, and has planned a 'Your Races' feature where users can get updates on even the most remote races, from Congressional contests to state ballot measures. The New York Times is asking its Web site visitors to take pictures of their polling places and upload them, providing an election day snapshot of the nation. The news sites will also have the up-to-the-minute election maps. Election day will be an experiment at the cable channel Current TV, which is run by Democratic former Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt. Through a partnership with social networking sites Digg and Twitter, the channel will rely on Internet users to provide its news content that day. The channel's TV screen will be a crowded and sometimes disconnected 'dashboard' of text and video created or chosen by Internet users, Hyatt said.
http://www.ejc.net/media_news/media_groups_turn_on_web_for_election_coverage/
