Posted on 11/12/2004 3:47:19 PM PST by joyce11111
CBS, CNN and ABC: Caught in the Tank with Kerry
On November 4, Jodi Wilgoren of The New York Times reported details of election night television coverage that are yet to get the attention they deserve. Buried deep in a story, far from the front page, here’s what Wilgoren wrote:
"The critical moment came at 12:41 a.m. Wednesday, when, shortly after Florida had been painted red for Mr. Bush, Fox News declared that Ohio — and, very likely, the presidency — was in Republican hands.
"Howard Wolfson, a strategist who joined the [Kerry] campaign this fall, burst into the room where the brain trust was huddled and told them ‘we have 30 seconds’ to stop the other networks from following suit.
"The campaign pollster, Mark Mellman, and the renowned organizer Michael Whouley quickly dialed ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC — and all but the last refrained from calling the race through the night. Then Mr. Wolfson banged out a simple, two-line statement from Mary Beth Cahill, expressing confidence that Mr. Kerry would win Ohio once the remaining ballots were counted.
"'All through the process, what was driving our decision making was the memory of how in 2000, by allowing Florida to go for Bush, a lot of momentum was blocked,' said one person who was in the room. 'Our whole goal was stop the train from moving that way.'"
They stopped the train dead, and with it any pretense that CBS, CNN and ABC were practicing independent, objective, knowledgeable analysis and journalism. It is perfectly acceptable for networks to listen to what a campaign has to say, but not to ignore empirical evidence to favor that campaign.
In its wisdom, Fox News had selected Michael Barone as the on-air presence of its "Decision Desk" of election analysts. No living human knows more about the intricacies of American elections than Barone, for decades the principal author of "The Almanac of American Politics," the indispensable repository of fact, analysis and insight. Name any county in the country, and Barone not only understands it politically, he’s been there.
Fox News called Ohio, first and correctly. A while thereafter, Barone analytically demolished the spurious Kerry campaign spin that outstanding votes, including the much-discussed provisional ballots, could overcome the President’s Ohio lead. Later, Barone would report that Karl Rove had called, urging Fox News to call New Mexico for the President to put the Electoral College count over the top. Fox refused, because the numbers were not then sufficient to make the call with confidence.
Stating fears of repeating the debacle of Election 2000 television news coverage may well provide CBS, CNN and ABC with enough fig leaves to escape concentrated mass condemnation. In fact, Jacques Steinberg and David Carr of The New York Times wrote that story also, strangely appearing only two pages following Wilgoren’s revelations, but with no references to the Kerry campaign’s successful lobbying of the networks.
We are willing to listen to those of the media — television and print — who start with the simple declarative "We screwed up" and follow with a commitment to return independence and objectivity to their news coverage. While we are waiting, we, who have been labeled as idiots and worse, are at least smart enough to find alternative news sources.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Posted November 11, 2004
If that is an actual bumper sticker who sells 'em. Kerry is done for but as yet not the msm. I don't want the left to forget we've got 'em figured out.
koko see post #14, LOL!
I heard that too, but I really missed his headcover, LOL
I got my election night news on the FR live thread, at least until I was informed it was safe to turn on the TV again after the early and wrong exit poll nightmare.
..."Our whole goal was stop the train from moving that way."
This is a minor point but I believe that all of the polls had closed by this time. The only way the outcome could have been changed was by election fraud.
The "Socialist Obsolete Damned Old Media".
SODOM
I don't know, I have my doubts.
LOL.
"I wish the obsolete old media would just hurry up and die."
Unfortunately, there is always some idealistic young twit brainwashed in a university school of "journalism" that is ready and eager to take their places. Stupidity is perpetual.
About 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning my daughter and I switched from Fox News Channel to CBS and CNN. Not because we had lost faith in FNC, mind you, but simply for the comic relief.
From what I saw, the networks were pretty prompt about
calling a state for Kerry. California hardly had one
percent in when they called it for Kerry, and others were
called quickly for him or so it seemed to me. It was
fun to watch as the worm turned and they were squirming
and stalling to a standstill, trying to work out how Kerry
could win. . as if, only if they wished hard enough . . .
It's ok, you're allowed to view the Moron networks when they are whining, as long as you are not a Nielsen family. :-)
To be fair, I recall looking at Nevada's returns, though, and most of the outstanding precincts were in Clark County and whatever Reno is in, which at the time were leaning so heavily Dem that I can see them holding off (all the Republican areas were at 100% reporting by then). However, FNC held off even as it seemed more likely Bush would win it, while calling Ohio earlier than expected. I think they were afraid that if Ohio went the other way, they'd be more embarrassed if they'd already put Bush "over the top" by calling NV, too.
Spok...you said..*I've never enjoyed watching election coverage so much in my life. Once Fox and NBC declared Bush the winner, I switched to CNN (first and last time, I promise) to watch Larry King and Wolf Blitzed squirm. Blitzed even had the nerve to proclaim "we're not holding off because we favor any candidate-we just don't want a repeat of 2000". I sprayed my coffee table with Coors Light. CNN knew they were lashed to the deck of the good ship Kerry/Edwards and it was going down. It was ecstacy to watch.*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Me: Drats...I wish I had switched channels as you did...just to watch the squirming...well...next time.
Thanks for the huzzahs.
It's just something I slapped together when the Rather/Burkett flap started, and it turned into a work in progress, logos added here and there. There's no bumper stickers, but it's an actual size lossless .png, so feel free to pass it along and make your own.
Of course the media did exactly what Kerry's team said. It is shocking, outrageous, but they did the same for Al Gore.
Well, if Fox was unsure of its Ohio call they should have retracted it. CNN, ABC, and CBS all called Nevada for Bush hours and hours before Fox. Actually, Fox wouldn't call Nevada for Bush until Kerry conceded, as if he was conceding Nevada. It looked ridiculous.
Agreed. I was watching for them to call NV as soon as Kerry conceded...and sure enough, only a few minutes later (less than 1/2 hour), they called it.
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