The public is dying to know the outcome of the election, and exit polls suggest that outcome hours quicker than the actual returns do.But the interest of the public is not the same as "the public interest." Conflating the two is a standard journalistic con; the public interest is better served if the election is decided by voters who don't know what the results in Florida were - and certainly not what CBS claims they were.
The calling of FL 2000 before the polls in FL were all closed was a travesty, but even if called accurately it wrongly affects voter behavior elsewhere. The institution of broadcast calling of the states before the polls are all closed should be abolished. Indeed broadcast journalism itself - see the CBS Memos - should be abolished.
Why Broadcast Journalism is
Unnecessary and Illegitimate
I kept telling everyone that these polls were not accurate since most of them were unreliable since you could vote numerous times, which of course changes the stats.