How to cover an election? We are accustomed to TV marathons, but we are increasingly getting news through online newspapers, live blogs and updates of the results via Twitter. In between, the classic rituals of  election day: higher and lower percentages, live coverage from the general headquarters of political parties, and "if the exit polls are confirmed..."

On the eve of local elections that will take place in all major Italian cities, and with the US presidential campaign under way, we take stock of what has changed (and what has not) in the reporting of the most important moment in any democracy, the election.