USA TODAY NETWORK Covers Election Night with Unprecedented Live Coverage in Key Swing States

The USA TODAY NETWORK is mobilizing like never before to cover this year’s historic election. The NETWORK’s position on the ground in many battleground states – including Florida, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Iowa – gives it a coverage advantage on Election Day.

The USA TODAY NETWORK will provide election results both online and in print for all 110 NETWORK sites. This includes the presidential race and all Senate, House and gubernatorial races, and key ballot initiatives. NETWORK journalists will be reporting from polling places and on Facebook Live, speaking to voters across the nation to create a rich report that covers important national and local races and initiatives.

Election Night coverage will include real time results and analysis from various NETWORK media organizations (particularly in swing state markets) that will be live streamed across USA TODAY NETWORK (USA TODAY and 109 local media organizations,) the USA TODAY app, and across 100+ NETWORK Facebook pages simultaneously.

The entire USA TODAY NETWORK will be lifting paywalls and opening up all of its digital platforms on Nov. 8 and Nov. 9, providing unrestricted access to all NETWORK content to ensure citizens have full access to comprehensive news coverage from the NETWORK’s award-winning teams.

“With this historic election we're using the unprecedented reach and scale of the USA TODAY NETWORK to keep our readers and users informed and engaged across desktop, mobile, and social platforms,” said Joanne Lipman, Chief Content Officer of the USA TODAY NETWORK. “From East to West, North to South, and every red and blue community in-between, the NETWORK is able to deliver a breadth of in depth Election night coverage that reaches millions of readers and users wherever they are.”

Kicking off LIVE from USA TODAY’s National Headquarters in Virginia and hosted by USA TODAY’s Laura Petrecca and Marco Della Cava, the NETWORK will bring up-to-the-minute results from key battleground states to provide context and perspective on important ballot issues along with rolling results that will tell the story of election night live, as it unfolds. NETWORK media organizations in key battleground states include:

• MICHIGAN: Detroit Free Press
• OHIO: Cincinnati Enquirer
• FLORIDA: Fort Myers News-Press, Tallahassee Democrat and Naples Daily News
• IOWA: The Des Moines Register
• WISCONSIN: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The NETWORK will have LIVE special reports from the Trump and Clinton campaign headquarters and from across the NETWORK featuring up-to-the minute reporting and commentary as news breaks. NETWORK editors and reporters will round up key local and national election results and offer top-notch analysis throughout the evening. Real time results can also be followed on elections.usatoday.com

For print specifically, USA TODAY will significantly increase press runs throughout the week, as well as USA TODAY inserts that currently run in 77 local newspapers throughout the country. Additionally, numerous USA TODAY NETWORK sites are planning to have extra copies available and/or commemorative editions on Wednesday, including the Detroit Free Press, The (Bergen) Record, Cincinnati Enquirer, The Des Moines Register, The Desert Sun, and Tennessean.

Some additional NETWORK-wide, election highlights include:

• Monday’s print USA TODAY edition had bylined op-eds by both Clintonand Trump.
• Monday, Wednesday and Thursday’s print USA TODAY have extra pages devoted to election coverage.
• More than 60 stories are planned for national distribution, from USA TODAY as well as NETWORK journalists, to run on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
• Collaboration with ProPublica, Google and others on Electionland, with local NETWORK reporters providing boots-on-the-ground reporting during the voting in case of any irregularities.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161108005333/en/