Even this morning, experts and Florida officials are calling the presidential race between Democrat Vice President Al Gore and Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush much too close to call.
And while America awaits the results, many are taking the time to call the media covering the election irresponsible.
“The media relied too much on exit polls before votes had been tallied well enough,” said Robert Smalley, a no-preference freshman, talking about major networks declaring Gore the winner in Florida before many votes were even counted.
“That was absolutely stupid.”
Turns out he’s right. Major networks, including NBC and CNN, ultimately conceded their mistakes and yanked Florida from Gore’s tally.
Ultimately, about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, the 25 electoral votes wound up in Bush’s corner.
An hour later, the Republican lost it, too.
“Their giving it to Bush was another stupid thing in my mind, because they hadn’t tallied the votes for two counties that were extremely Democratic, according to the polls,” Smalley said.
Needless to say, Smalley didn’t garner much sleep Tuesday night - if any.
And today, Sunshine State officials continue to recount votes at the more than 6,000 precincts.
What goes to the winner? The presidency.
While America waits to learn who the nation’s new leader is, media outlets are now much more reluctant to predict a clear winner.
But one professor took time to defend media outlet predictions, saying networks make it a goal to have the data before anyone else.
“There were pressures to fill the air time and demonstrate the networks had full and firm data,” said Sue Carter, an associate professor of journalism who has worked in news broadcasting in Michigan. “It’s going to be important to look at some of the sources of the predictions.”
Carter said many results were probably derived from analyzing small samples of data to make the most effective prediction possible.
But because of the mistakes, she said many Americans might be forced to watch the races more closely - and certainly news outlets will exercise more caution.
“When that next Florida example comes up, I’ll hold in reserve judgment until we’re really certain,” Carter said. “It will take some reflection for the media to examine itself and to appreciate where it could have done a better job.”
Other states like Nevada and Minnesota were also predicted by outlets only to be pulled later.
Ultimately, Gore landed Minnesota while Bush was triumphant in Nevada.
Cal Rapson, a Democrat who lost his bid for a seat on the MSU Board of Trustees, agreed that the media could have done a better job.
He called the back-and-forth reporting of such networks as CNN “absolutely irresponsible.”
“This stuff of exit polling and projecting these states right at the moment they close - they’re all in a hurry to be first,” Rapson said. “And then they even point out that they made these kinds of mistakes and say, ‘Well gee, I guess we shouldn’t have.’
“Yeah, they shouldn’t have.”
But Ingham County Commissioner and political analyst Mark Grebner points out that reporting before certainty is nothing new.
Maybe the nation’s most blatant example: The Nov. 3, 1948, edition of the Chicago Tribune with a banner headline reading “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.”
But when the sun rose, incumbent Democrat Harry Truman was actually declared the president, winning over Thomas Dewey. Photos of Truman smiling and holding the paper are now famous.
Even Wednesday, some papers called Bush the clear winner. The New York Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The State News all printed headlines saying Gore had lost. Headlines changed from edition to edition at major city newspapers.
“The fact that media is becoming faster and faster means it’s becoming less reliable,” Grebner said. “I think it’s a really good reminder that exit polls and predictions are not perfectly reliable.”
Grebner also said the growing efficiency of the media results is a tradeoff between speed and accuracy. The same things that slow outlets give them a chance to check their facts.
“They may be a little hair trigger,” he said. “But is hair trigger good or bad?”
Bill Hollister, a Republican who lost his race for 70th District state House seat, said the Florida recount is a shame. As Americans wait to know the outcome, he said the best people to resolve the situation are the candidates themselves.
He balks at getting attorneys involved.
“Immediately deciding attorneys get involved is the worst example of partisan politics,” said Hollister, an East Lansing businessman who lost to Democrat Gretchen Whitmer. “Our first solution to a problem is to grab an attorney and litigate.”
Kareem Downer-Shojgreen, a food industry and management junior, said he’s disappointed with the media errors, but conceded there’s little other way for him to receive such information.
“It’s a shame because we don’t have anywhere else to turn to for our information,” he said. “It’s not like we could have called all the states up and asked them, ‘How’s the election going?’”
