It’s inauguration day – and that means media will be going all out. From wires to newspapers to TV and radio, correspondents will be covering every possible angle of the event. And they won’t have a problem finding an audience.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that this could be the most widely viewed inauguration in U.S. history, surpassing the 42 million who watched Ronald Reagan’s first swearing in.

Like everything surrounding the 2008 presidential campaign, the inauguration of Barack Obama dawns with broadcast media swinging for the fences. Not only are the usual suspects bringing their A teams, but cablers as diverse as BET, TV One, Al Jazeera and ESPN are offering live coverage of Obama’s swearing-in. MTV will focus on inaugural coverage in the evening.

“CBS Evening News” executive producer Rick Kaplan, a veteran of every inauguration since 1973, said there is pressure on every network to make sure this one is covered perfectly.

“It’s an extraordinary event, and you want to get it right,” he said. “What everyone wants to do is report in a way fitting the amazing importance of the event. This is a critical period in our country’s history — you want to have your A game on this story.”

One network particularly keen to put its best foot forward is CNN. AdAge said CNN has signed more than 20 sponsors for two days of coverage.

Greg D’Alba, CNN’s exec VP-chief operating officer of ad sales, said the total client list is the largest the network has ever had for any one- or two-day event. “The election trail was more than any of us bargained for in many ways. Our brand became more, our coverage became more, the viewers became more and our users became more,” he said. “This is about the attraction and the empowerment of a brand. It’s no longer about a single medium; it’s about a network.”

Keep an eye on:

• Facing the worst ad downturn in a decade, Madison Avenue is eager to avoid any labor strife in its upcoming negotiations with commercial actors (NY Post)
• In an effort to increase their online exposure without breaking the bank, marketers are looking beyond the biggest Web search engines to find new places for their search ads (WSJ.com)

(Photo: Reuters)

I’m skipping the attempt at a witty first sentence and going straight to the press release:

Young adults often click away from 2008 election news online because they feel the sites bombard them with too much information and too many choices, according to a new study released by Northwestern University’s Media Management Center.

Here’s more: The MMC survey of 89 young people between the age of 17 and 22 — who are eligible to vote for president for the first time in 2008 — found that while they are interested in the elections and want information about the candidates and issues, they don’t want to spend much time following day-to-day developments. However, they do appreciate news sites that help them — and other new voters — understand the basics about the candidates, issues and election process.

The big problem, apparently, is the “too muchness” of all that coverage. Specifically:

• Too many things competing for attention, without clues about what is most important;
• Too many details;
• Too wordy; not distilled to the essence;
• Too many choices;
• Too much text, too high a percentage of text to graphics, or a screen of mostly text;
• Site features that they don’t immediately understand;
• Pages or stories that go on and on and on.

The study recommends:

• Place huge emphasis on clear, helpful, immediately understandable organization and design that signals what to focus on and conveys the relative importance of offerings on a page. Short, meaningful, compelling headlines are essential.
• Offer content in manageable layers and chunks, letting the reader decide how deep to go. When stories go more than a page, young adults tend to tune out. However, if stories maintain their interest enough to click on a link, the millennials want some substance.
• Have a lot but display a little. It’s better for this audience to be selective in what is presented (with links to more information) than to overwhelm with “too much.”
• Concentrate most on information resources that help young people (and other new voters) understand the basics about the candidates, the issues and the election process.

Essentially, the study appears to be recommending better editing. But it also sounds like something that new wave band Devo said more concisely many years ago in a fairly popular song:

“Freedom of choice is what you got. Freedom from choice is what you want.”

(Yawning boy photo: Reuters)