How the Media Caused the Florida Recount

The Washington Examiner ^ | August 31, 2016 | C. Boyden Gray & Elise Passamani

[srmorton]

On November 7, 2000, during the final hour and a half of voting in Florida's most conservative region, the Panhandle, 13 national television journalists, representing all six major outlets, asserted a total of 39 times that the polls in that region closed an hour earlier than they really did.

Not once did anyone on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News Channel, NBC, or MSNBC inform the audience that Florida has two time zones and two poll closing times. They hammered away that there was only one poll-closing time throughout the entire state of Florida: 7 p.m. Eastern. The polls in the ten westernmost Panhandle counties—all heavily Republican—were actually open until 8 p.m. Eastern.

Hearing these announcements, viewers in the Panhandle would have understood that their own polls closed at 6 p.m. local time. The effect was to shut down voting in those ten Panhandle counties during the final hour. Sworn testimony from Panhandle poll workers confirms that this is exactly what happened. Given that 357,808 votes were cast that day in those ten counties, thousands were surely disenfranchised, the vast majority of them Republicans. Adding those votes (around 11,000) to Bush's statewide tally would have ended the conversation about who actually won the state very early on. Without the media's intrusion into the voting in the Panhandle, it is likely that there never would have been a 36-day Florida recount, or for that matter, a Bush v. Gore.

There were five anchors who handed out this misinformation more than once: ABC's Cokie Roberts, MSNBC's Brian Williams, CNN's Judy Woodruff, NBC's Tom Brokaw, and CBS's Dan Rather. Dan Rather misinformed viewers about the Florida poll closings approximately once every three minutes. For a full, chronological presentation of these statements, see the two video montages at The American Conservative.

In the wake of election night 2000, the media have engaged in a cover-up, aided by a feckless Congress. Specifically, the networks claimed "embarrassment" over their retracted calls of Florida for Gore and then for Bush. They blamed these mistakes on the Voter News Service (VNS), which was the exit-polling consortium formed by the television networks, cable channels, and the Associated Press. The VNS operated as the media's sole source for information ranging from exit polling to poll closing times.

The significance of the VNS is revealed by a brief exchange that reportedly occurred in the White House on the day of the election in 2000. A foreign ambassador told one of us, Boyden Gray, that he had been in the White House on Election Day and had asked a high-ranking political official how the voting was going. That official remarked that they had a real problem in the Panhandle.

Herein lies the danger of creating a monopoly like the VNS. When all of the news channels are drawing their information from the same source, it makes it fairly simple to spread disinformation. The VNS was sued in 2002 because of its status as a monopoly and it quickly dissolved itself, thus terminating the litigation.

Americans' distrust of the major news media is at an all-time high, and yet most can't identify precise incidents that caused them to distrust the news. This case provides a perfect example. The notion of "trust, but verify" with respect to the news media is insufficient. As the next election approaches, voters would do well to be skeptical: distrust, until a story is verified.

[srmorton]

I remember being completely horrified when I heard the major networks announce that the polls had closed in Florida when even I knew that the panhandle is in the Central Time zone. Of course, they corrected their mistake, but only after hundreds of voters in line or still on their way to vote assumed that their vote would not matter and did not bother to cast them. The article mentions how it affected the vote in Florida, but I have always believed it affected the vote totals in other states as well. This outrage is no longer mentioned and younger voters may not even be aware that it happened so it is appropriate that C. Boyden Gray reminds us that Bush was not "selected" by the SCOTUS. He was cheated by the MSM. The stakes are too high to let the Democrats succeed in stealing this election!

[Carl Vehse]

The fifth-column leftist media, including the major networks, have demonstrated time and time again they will give aid and comfort to the enemy whenever they can.

[FiddlePig]

The early call for Gore in Florida was NOT an accident or mistake... it was deliberate! It was not just to swing Florida but other states as well. Since 2000, the media has become even more brazen and corrupt! God bless America!

[Former Proud Canadian]

I stopped listening to them because they either can't get things right or they have simply become propaganda outlets. Either way, I do not let them pollute my mind with their misinformation.

Like Hillary, they are either lying or incompetent. They should wither and die.

[Carriage Hill]

Wonder what the “final count” of dozens/hundreds of lib-dem-controlled precincts, which voted at 100-105-110-115% of registered voters, actually was?

[Jim Noble]

Anyone who doesn’t know when to vote should not be allowed to vote.

And the incredible power grab by the Supreme Court must never be allowed to happen again. Of course the Court “selected” Bush, and by foreclosing the perfectly clear constitutional process, under which Bush would have been legitimately elected, they caused his administration undue misery.

[sport]

Yessir, the media is nothing more than the propaganda arm or department of the Democrat Party. No Patriot or bonafide Christian can be a member of the Democrat Party.

[Gaffer]

As I recall, neither the Media nor the Democrats wanted a full state-wide recount - only about three major counties/precincts.

Some time long after that whole mess there were at least two newspapers that did an exhaustive recount state-wide and they had to suppress the results because Bush won.

[ronnietherocket3]

IMO, there should be a law that states no precinct may publicly disclose its results until all polls in the country are closed. In addition, every single vote should be counted. I have heard there are some states that stop counting once it is known who the victor is.

[DaveA37]

Now retired after 20 years as a County Commissioner, more than one time I had been asked for interviews by the media. I refused to give comments and so stated that when recording my words, all they would do was to edit OUT anything they felt would go against their propaganda. I no longer need to deal with them.

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[blueunicorn6]

We used to have basic respect for one another.

You maybe didn’t vote the way I did, but I still had basic respect for you.

The Democrat leaders (including the press) have lost this basic respect for other Americans.

We don’t vote the way they want us to.

They don’t consider that that may be because we have different experiences and knowledge than they have.

They just easily prejudge us and label us as stupid.

They have no basic respect for us.

[Arm_Bears]

Democrats are horrified by voter disenfranchisement only when democrat voters are disenfranchised.

Bush should have pulled the broadcast licenses of all those networks and ordered IRS audits of their employees and advertisers.

[EQAndyBuzz]

One thing I need to give Obama credit for. By bringing home the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, he added a potential of a couple of hundred thousand votes to the Republican candidate. By being in the US, they won’t be disenfranchised like they use to be.

Hillary can very well lose this election because of Obama bringing the troops home. Oh the sweet irony.

[Carriage Hill]

That was well-evidenced by what pmsNBC edits did to George
Zimmerman’s calls to police, in the FL ghetto rat/thug shooting. Also...

“The most insidious power the media has, is the power to ignore.” - Chris Plante, WMAL

[philippa]

Interesting. Never thought about it that way. Karma.

[pgyanke]

And the incredible power grab by the Supreme Court must never be allowed to happen again. Of course the Court “selected” Bush...

You are wrong and have bought the lie. The FL Supreme Court tried to steal the election for Gore. The only thing the US Supreme Court did is stop them.

[PghBaldy]

Interesting point. Thank you for posting.

[nfldgirl]

The article mentions how it affected the vote in Florida, but I have always believed it affected the vote totals in other states as well.

Agree with what you said here. Possibly part of the "strategy" all along, to keep Bush from the presidency. I recall that night so vividly, what with the vote counting so close. In fact, I stayed up all night, and not even one single time did Bush's total drop below Gore's. In fact, in the wee early hours of the following morning, when supposedly all votes had been counted, Bush led Gore by around 245 votes. What a nail-biter. Even with the recount, at no time did Gore ever lead.

[ScaniaBoy]

That’s the way I also remembered it.