You guys have got this all wrong. The networks have agreed for MANY YEARS to not call a state until the polls are closed in that state. This has been the unofficial policy ever since the 1980 Election when the major networks declared Reagan the winner very, very early, and Democrats contended that it cost them House and Senate seats in the Western time zones.
What happened in Florida was a mistake. While it pains me greatly to stick up for the communist mainstream media, they did not INTEND to declare Florida early for Bush or Gore. The truth is that network executives know soooo little about what liberals call "flyover territory" that they did not realize that the Western part of the Florida panhandle was in a different time zone. Hence they called Florida before ALL the polls were closed.
In every other state, they wait until the polls are closed in each state to call that individual state. Indiana is called early because the polls CLOSE EARLY (6PM EST) in Indiana.
Nevertheless, it is foolish, for many reasons and on many levels, to claim that "I didn't go and vote for Bush because on Channel 47 they said Gore won." The onus is on the voter.
Dean: "The media never got my message out."
Clark's son: "The media's job is to sell advertising."
I agree with Angus. The bottom line is the networks job is to sell ads and report news. Exit Polls, for better or worse, ARE news. If I worked for a network, I would like to pass along news as quickly as possible, if it would help me sell ads. I think they should revise their terminology by reporting exit poll numbers in a way that is not declaring a definitive winner. I have no problem with declaring a winner, but, as we saw in Florida, their accuracy is not 100%, so stating that a candidate "appears to be leading" based on exit polls seems to be legitimate to me, rather than pretending that they have no idea until the clock strikes 7:00 p.m. or 8:00p.m. or whatever, then suddenly declaring a winner with zero actual results. Just a thought.
