As the 2020 election cycle heats up, The Economist magazine  is introducing a newsletter and podcast called “Checks and Balance,” in addition to launching a multiplatform marketing campaign to boost readership and subscriptions across the U.S.

“Checks and Balance” offers a roundup of the magazine’s best election coverage in each week’s newsletter and a focus on a specific theme shaping up in the race in its podcast.

Condensing the magazine’s finest output in digestible chunks, the newsletter will be issued on every Friday evening in the US, complete with a personal introduction from US editor John Prideaux together with subscriber-only polling analysis from its data team.

The podcast meanwhile will take the form of a weekly 30-minute discussion chaired by Prideaux New York bureau chief, Charlotte Howard, and Washington correspondent, Jon Fasman.

Prideaux said: “In 2020 Americans will be facing one of the most important elections in US history. Through content in our ‘Checks and Balance’ newsletter and podcast, we aim to give our readers and listeners fair-minded analysis in what will be an emotionally charged media environment. Although the reporting from our US-based correspondents will be local, the election coverage will put what is happening in an international context, which is what our audience expects from The Economist.”

The twin editorial salvos will be accompanied by a marketing campaign designed to boost readership and subscribers as audience interest peaks in the run-up to the presidential election scheduled for 3 November. This will encompass a mix of social media marketing and cross-promotion in The Economist itself.