As long as I've been in this industry, I've heard election night described as the peak "news nerd holiday." An election is also a huge economic event, a spike of reader attention and intense search traffic that's addictive. That makes it hard for newsrooms to think clearly about what an election means, much less make decisions that might reduce the flow of pageviews. But in the wake of the Trump era and the January 6, 2021 insurrection, it's time for us to step back and take a clear-eyed look...
