McTag asked
Quote:Is it a matter of any concern to you, that for the first time in its history the USA is opposed by all the developed countries in the world, with the possible exception of Israel?
Well, first the President of the US will tell you that's not true and then he will tell you that it doesn't matter because he is on a mission from god. His supporters don't see that as a flip-flop although anyone ought to able to see that he
is flippy, as in quite mad. He will point to the news that Georgia will be sending help soon. Thank goodness, Georgia, we and Poland thought we were by ourselves in this.
It should be quite clear by now that this administration believes that the American hegemony of the world is complete and unassailable, rather like England thought about a hundred- fifty years ago when it invaded the Middle East. Wish us better luck.
Quote:And also wondering, since the exit polls were so different from the final results, in Florida for example; why?
Exit polls are supposed to be raw data from which reporters can check to see if there is a developing story. Years ago, and I'm talking twenty five years ago, the public didn't know there was such a thing as an exit poll because the data was used as PART of the picture. Zoom forward to the age of the internet where all information, raw or otherwise, is tossed out onto the airwaves (cable? Satt-uplink?) without regard to the fact that the raw information can
become the story.
There used to be something called a news cycle. It was the period of time between the last publishing of a story and the present look at the same facts. It used to be as much as three or four days. I was listening to Bob Hager of NBC say his goodbyes last night. He was a reporter for thirty years or so, back in the time when stories were sent in on film to be edited and broadcast days or even weeks later.
Today, a reporter standing on a street corner in Boston or New York or Paris can interview sources and go on air minutes later and then ten minutes later in the world of CNN/FOX/MSNBC be asked to
update the report. That's not a news cycle, that's a news blink, the result of which is the effort to make the story grow even if it's only ten minutes old. So reporters look for anything to say that's new even if it's not neccessarily news.
In the story, stories, using exit polls data reporters were letting the story feed on itself and because the 'news' fit pretty much what their expectations were they were comfortable in reporting the raw information as news even though the producers of the information has cautioned numerous times about how to use the information.
Next time, we discuss the role of the news producer/editor and why they are a nearly extinct breed.
Joe
