PRESS RELEASE from Reuters

Reuters News announces plans for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions

Includes an innovative microsite, joint video program with The Hill, and “Google+ Studio Hangout” discussions

NEW YORK, August 21, 2012—Today Reuters News announced its plans for covering the Republican National Convention in Tampa and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.  Reuters is sending a wide range of staff members to cover each convention, including reporters, editors, photographers, online and TV staff, and Breaking Views columnists, as well as correspondents based in Florida and North Carolina to monitor activities outside the convention areas, such as protests and rallies, which could influence the conventions themselves.  The coverage will include news articles, blog posts, tweets, video packages, and Breaking Views opinion pieces.

In addition, Reuters is embarking on several innovative initiatives.

Conventions Microsite

Reuters is creating a dedicated microsite for the conventions featuring elements designed to intrigue political wonks and more casual observers alike, which will be accessible starting August 26 at reuters.com.  The landing page will include live streaming video imbeds from the convention floor, a news feed on convention activities, and three custom-designed special reports on the candidates.  In addition the microsite will include three interactive features:

·         “50 Years of Electoral Votes.” Users will be able to click through a morphing infographic map of the United States illustrating a breakdown of the results of each presidential election since 1964.

·         “Tweet Off.”  An illustrated head-to-head comparison of the candidates’ latest tweets on a variety of hot-button issues such as economics and healthcare.

·         “Do Political Ads Work?” A timeline of poll results from this year, compiled by RealClearPolitics.  Along the bottom of the timeline are thumbnails featuring screenshots of political TV ads that ran at poll time, curated by the Smart Media Group.  Visitors can click on the thumbnail to watch the ad and judge for themselves whether it had an effect on poll results.

"Convention Lunch Break," a web TV program produced jointly by Reuters and The Hill

At noon each convention day, "Lunch Break" will take a close look at the headlines vis-a-vis the dominant issues for lawmakers, the markets, the campaigns, and the country, broadcasting on reuters.com and thehill.com.  Reuters Breakingviews editors Rob Cox and Jeff Goldfarb, along with editors from The Hill, will anchor the seven-minute broadcast, teeing up the pressing topics and inviting perspective from a rotation of guests. Each broadcast will wrap with notes from the conventions' lighter side, with The Hill's gossip columnist Judy Kurtz.

Google+ Studio Hangout

Breakingviews editors Rob Cox and Jeff Goldfarb along with Reuters correspondents, including Andy Sullivan and Sam Jacobs, will conduct 30 minute online discussions with newsmakers at the conventions on Google+ Studio Hangouts from Tampa on August 30 at 3 p.m. EDT and from Charlotte on September 5 at 2 p.m. EDT. Robert Wolf, former CEO and President of the Americas for UBS, current member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and host of the upcoming Reuters TV program Impact Players will host a Google+ Studio Hangout from Charlotte on September 4 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.  Among his guests will be economist and former Obama cabinet member Austan Goolsbee.

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About Reuters
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than 1 billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world’s media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com.