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Veteran Sky News journalist Jeremy Thompson broadcast his nightly look at the U.S. Election from Jirani Coffeehouse on Thursday.
The Manassas coffeehouse served as the backdrop for a community conversation about the upcoming Presidential Election. A cross-section of Hillary Clinton supporters and Donald Trump die hards attended the event.
When questioned by Thomspon during his live “America Decides” broadcast that airs on Great Brittan’s widely-viewed 24-hour news channel Sky News, some at Jirani told the journalist that planned not to vote at all.
The audience gathered for the show which began at 8 p.m. U.S. east coast time and at midnight in the United Kingdom. The show lasted an hour., and the first portion of the show was displayed on a large TV screen inside the coffeehouse, while others streamed the second portion of the broadcast on their cell phones.
Thompson anchored the broadcast solely talking about the election, one of the most divisive in recent history, tossing to other Sky News correspondents fanned out across the U.S. who talked to U.S. residents to get their take on the presidential contest.
Thompson then fanned out across the coffeehouse while live on-the-air and asked audience members about who they planned to vote for, and why. Thompson asked questions about Clinton’s email scandal affects voters’ impressions of her, and how Trump’s consistent battering of the state of the federal government impacted federal workers’ opinion of the candidate, as many live in and around Manassas and work in Washington, D.C.
Sky News producer Kenneth Stewart contacted Potomac Local in mid-October informing us the international news network planned to visit Prince William County. His team of journalist took an interest in the locality because of its bellwether status, with a history of projecting who will win the White House based on the majority vote of the county’s electorate.
President Obama won Prince William County in 2008 and 2012 while President Bush won the vote here in 2004 and 2000. Trump visited the Prince William County Fairgrounds in December but, unlike in the past two Presidential Elections, Prince William County and much of Virginia has been ignored by the candidates as the Commonwealth was placed early into the Democratic win column.
Shifting poll numbers following the FBI’s announcement that it was reopening the Clinton email investigation has been good news for Trump. The Clinton campaign announced Thursday that running mate and Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine plans to visit the state before the election on Tuesday. Reports also state the Trump campaign will swing back through the re-ignited battleground state before Election Day.
Stewart told Potomac Local that his team was interested in broadcasting “America Decides” from a downtown area where his team could speak with people on the street before the show to gauge their opinions on the Clinton-Trump battle. We put Sky News in touch with the Detra and Ken Moorman, owners of Jirani Coffeehouse, who decided to reschedule a weekly open-mic night to host the British broadcasters.
We tagged along with Sky News Social Media Producer Alex Bath as he fanned out across Downtown Manassas with cardboard cutouts of Clinton and Trump. Of those he interviewed on camera, those who planned to vote for Hillary Clinton were asked to stand next to the cardboard Trump to say why they thought he would not make for a good president. Trump supporters were asked to do the same next to a cutout of Clinton.
