Going local: A new streaming service peeks into news in 2024 election swing states
NEW YORK — Politics fans now have a new way to stay up to date on what’s happening in the country’s most competitive states: a service that aggregates and streams local news stories.
Swing state election newswhich launched Monday, lets streamers choose from 37 local television stations in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They are primarily local affiliates of CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox.
These are the states that pollsters have concluded are most likely to decide the presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The service will allow people to test the maxim “all politics is local” by closely following how the campaigns are conducted there.
“Nobody knows local politics better than journalists in their local communities,” said Jack Perry, CEO of Zeam Media.
Swing State Election News is an offshoot of Zeam, a free streaming service affiliated with Gray Television that launched last winter. Zeam targets people who have given up their cable or satellite TV subscriptions by offering hundreds of local-market broadcasts. The vast majority of users follow their local markets, but a significant number check in from other areas they may have had ties to in the past, the service said.
Zeam does not disclose how many people use the service.
Swing State Election News lets users choose between live programming or archived newscasts. A quick click on a tab on Monday, for example, brings up the morning news on WMGT-TV in Macon, Georgia.
As the campaign continues, Perry said the newscasts will provide a look at the rallies and other events taking place in those statesalong with details about local House and Senate elections that could affect control of those chambers.
It contrasts with national newscasts, Perry said, because “you get a different feel at the local level. It’s the people who actually live in these communities.”
One key indicator of how the campaigns are going, however, will be missing. A local newscast in the swing states this fall is expected to be filled with ads for the presidential candidates, illustrating a range of campaign strategies and issues they believe resonate with.
However, Swing State Election News sells its own advertising and will not air what is shown in the local commercial breaks, Perry said.
In another attempt The Associated Press said last month that it was offering campaign coverage to a number of small, independent news organizations that otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. The goal is to boost election news in swing states.
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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him on http://twitter.com/dbauder