As North Carolina dives headlong into election season, WRAL is honing its approach to political coverage, training our lens on the issues that matter most to viewers, readers and listeners.
A big step in that direction started this week with the release of
results from the latest
WRAL News poll. The survey of 850 adults, conducted in partnership with nonpartisan polling firm SurveyUSA, offers unmatched insight into the themes that are most important to likely North Carolina voters — everything from the economy to immigration, from crime to health care.
We’re strengthening our emphasis on these topics with a keen understanding of the evolving media landscape: Trust in the media has slipped. Our audience demands more nuanced journalism that goes beyond typical coverage and delves deeper into policies, proposals, and solutions put forth by candidates and elected officials.
Armed with insight from our
polling of everyday North Carolinians, we’ll pursue fresh perspectives in our coverage of campaign events, debates and interviews with candidates. Our aim is to better inform and empower our audience by going beyond the horse race and focusing on the issues important to people.
WRAL’s
NC Capitol team — an expert unit that includes veteran journalists with experience in an array of media, including national newspapers, wire services, radio and television — will lead the way. They’ll be supported by the broader WRAL newsroom as we work to contextualize standard stump speeches and elevate our coverage above superficial campaign narratives. We’ll reinforce our local reporting with coverage from partners at independent national news organizations to provide a more robust report.
Fact-checking of claims made by candidates and officials will remain a cornerstone of our reporting. WRAL is the only broadcast outlet with a
full-time PolitiFact reporter, who works closely with the Pulitzer Prize-winning national
fact-checking service. We will apply
practices gleaned from that relationship to our daily and enterprise reporting — an effort to keep more politicians in check and to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information we present to our audience.
We will also continue to be relentless in our pursuit of balance and fairness, offering perspectives from across the political spectrum and opportunities for candidates and officials to respond to criticism or claims made about them.
Through these efforts, we hope to promote understanding and dialogue to foster informed civic engagement and continued trust in our reporting.
But we can’t do it without our viewers, readers and listeners. Tell us what you’re interested in, and tell us how we’re doing. You can send comments and story suggestions to us
here.
