While The Pollsters Run For Cover, A Wise Man Named Gluck Gives Us the Answer
Okay. I am not a genius but I think I know the difference between right and wrong. After “pollster meltdown” Tuesday night, I thought it was time to take my business to to task again. I was going write about it until I read the following letter to this site from one of the finest broadcasters in America, Paul Gluck, Philadelphia’s own. Humbly, I must admit, he said it better than I can. Here is what he sent to us.
“I have run a couple of local, television newsrooms and a station or two before I moved to run the Rudman Institute at Philadelphia’s Drexel University. When they hold the “news crimes tribunal,” I am sure my name will be among those called to judgment. Be assured, it will be a crowded docket:).
I can’t really throw stones, since I write from a glass house.
Each day that I walked into the newsrooms I managed, I tried to muster respect for the viewers, listeners and web-users we served. I tried my best not to insult their intelligence or assault their sensibilities.
Our newscast offered them our very best assessment of the day through which we lived together and we tried to provide a crisp vantage point on the day we will all face, tomorrow.
Yes, we also showed our fair share of water-skiing squirrels. I know, that exactly doesn’t help democracy, either.That was done for punctuation, not perspective.
But, I am perplexed and a citizen and as a journalist, by both network election projections and cable news punditry.
Why do we now insist on telling viewers what they think before they have voiced their opinions? Why do we want to analyze their values before their votes are counted? So we can do slick promos about the speed at which we cover news?
In local news ,today, they love to tell 1/2 a story: “something’s happening- we’re not sure what- our helicopter, chopper 99, is overhead- a news 99 reporter and our HD-cam crew are speeding that way - when we know more, we’ll embellish that, too!
Sometimes you actually have to wait for a story to unfold, before you can report it accurately and fairly, even if technology let’s you move at the speed of light.
Is the worth of democracy being reduced to TV network bragging rights? Should networks be calling races based on 10, 12, 15, 20% of precincts reporting, just to make promos that say “we called it first?” Not sure how we’re served as a nation by this practice.
News is about weighing the value of each story. Mass media really can’t be mass produced. One size does not fit all stories.
We should hold these seminal events in the life of a nation to a higher standard. When it comes to election night punditry and projections, I love being first, but I really love being right!
Thank you Paul for helping us remember what the priorities are. If we don’t, the audiences will fade even more. Respect for the viewer, or listener, should be the number one priority for any broadcaster. When that goes away, so will TV news as we know it.
Larry, is it me or did your soppy lingering on every word of Mr, Gluck wipe out all your previous blogs?
OK…I get it now…ya gotta go to “About Larry” to see the previous blogs!
I agree with mr.
gluck. The news media and the journalist are out of control.All the cable guys are
to quick to make perdictions and use exit polls tomake their case,and sometimes, I believe they try to influence the people to vote the way that Mr. Matthews, or Mr Russert or whomever wants them to. Didn’t we learn anything from the ronald regan mess;when the east coast declared him the winner?
Why vote if it doesn’t matter.?
The news media wants to make the news or be the news rather than report the news.
I’m convinced that it is due to their own self-importance.
Many of them think they are just as important as the people elected to represent us in government. Except the news media is elected by NO ONE.
News media figures often say, when asked about their role, that they “represent the people” - how dare they think that! If they purport to represent me, then I want a say in who does it.
If you really want to blame someone for the downfall of the democratic process, blame Ted Turner. He’s the one who first figured out that we the people needed 24/7 news coverage. Along came the Gulf War then the OJ trial and suddenly we’re hooked.
With nothing but air time to fill, the all “news” stations have sacrificed truth for speculation. They give us stories from every imaginable point of view, but in the end deliver nothing.(ie election forecasts) Why do I need to know everything about every pretty white girl that has been killed?
Is it to much to ask news anchors not to mention Britney Spears and Ahamdinejad in the same breath? Can the truth be that these “all news” stations are more entertaining than what else is on TV?
Has anyone read a good book lately?
Mr. Gluck when judgment day comes you can rest assured that Ted Turner will be the one to burn in hell for eternity not you.
Where do I start. Core belief number one that Mr. Gluck dosn’t mention. Journalism should be and always be about the public trust.
When was the last time you heard that?
Cronkite had it, Hugh Sidey Had it, Bob Shiefer has it. Yes I think Larry Kane has it.
But really when was the last time we the users of news heard from the providers of news that PUBLIC TRUST was first and foremost on there mind.
Sadly competition, ad sales and revenue concerns has driven the News Business, print, television, radio or electronic to a frenzy.
Accountability is never talked about in the news. I don’t see anyone talking about the incredible failure of the pollsters Tuesday night. Although do read Carl Roves thoughtful analysis in today’s Wall Street Journal if you want to get some understanding of what happened. Should the pollsters and pundits be held accountable. In any other business they would be.
In fact as a retired military officer I find the entire thing thought provoking. Clearly we always hear the news hammer away at the millitary for mistakes made and demand accontablility. It is a rough business where the Monday morning Quarterbacks have the advantage of not ducking bullets.
We hear continually about the failure of Military intelligence the latest favorite is the issue of no Weapons of Mass Destruction In Iraq. Look at how inteligence is collected in a hostile place like N.Korea, Iran, Iraq or the like. It is done by technology in the sky looking in from hundreds of miles from space. It is done by clandestine operatives on the ground who often risk their lives to get slim pickings of what is often one piece of a jigsaw puzzel.
Tuesday night the journalistic intelligence system failed. Pundits and Pollsters blew it by a wide margin and are not being held up for scrutiny. No one was shot at.
The availablity of information was there for free in volumns. Operatives in New Hampshire protected by the Constitution had access to collect data as needed in mass. The effor was massive.
Net it out. They blew it by a country mile.
Next time you hear the press and pundits hammer the failure of military intelligence from the press pause please. Point out to the harpies the failure of New Hampshire where they had easy pickings.
One of the problems is that the polling is usually on target. Iowa was one recent example.Being off this much is the exception rather than the rule. BTW the blogeshere is filled with trashing of the media and the pollsters so I don’t see a shortage of scrutiny. The numbers may well have been real over the weekend. The polling pros didn’t keep an eye on the ball and it was a curve ball. Shame on them.
The thing I don’t get is: if soooooo many people distrust the media and don’t believe what they hear, who is it that’s being manipulated?
But, it’s not the end of the Republic. There are lots more primaries and if you don’t believe what you read/hear, take it with a grain of salt. Or - if you don’t like the 24/7 barrage- turn off the TV and do something else.
Ah…your blog is baaaack!
Hey JR,
We REPUBLICANS, would love to face off with your emoitional joke “HillBillary” we’d have a very good laugh indeed, and you still haven’t told me what she has done for us in 35 years??????? What, sit on Wal-Marts board in the 90’s and say what a great company they are, then when it suits her political ambitions, complain about how bad they are? She is an ambitious hypocrite that could not even carry JFK’s jockstrap, let alone do any good for the country, about all she would do is give the same usual cronies a job again…. Like I said mark my words, she will not reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue ever again. Most people if they had a choice would vote for “Mickey Mouse” before they would vote for that do nothing, you know what!
Predictions being what they are, are susceptable to being wrong. With the exception of Hilary’s overall percentage, they weren’t actually that far off. Barack actually nailed his number, it just wasn’t enough to beat Hilary’s. I have no problem with polling in advance of elections to predict their outcome. The problem lies in that data being proffered for anything other than speculative commentary. I enjoy political punditiary. I’m hooked on it. But I’m hooked on it for what it is. Don’t lose your perspective.
All of that being said, one thing that is blatantly wrong and needs to stop is predicting winners before an entire vote count has been tabulated. That isn’t showmanship, that’s disrespectful to the process. Most specifically in elections that cross time-zones and actual election outcomes start being declared while polls are in fact still open. I feel so strongly about it that, as opposed to over legislating as I am, it should be against the law. It is one thing to report elections results as tallies become available, it’s another for pontifications such as: “XYZ News now declares Candiate x the next whatever of somewhere”. You’re a journalistic body, it’s the citizens job to tell you who the next elected official is, not yours to tell us.
hey mike,so you are going to vote mickey mouse and goofy,is that what you are saying,who do you think is in 1600 penna. ave. right now,right mike.
mike your words are mark for future history.
now i am going to take myself out for a walk,thanks mike.
JR, life was so much better with you in hiding. The fact that Hillary has received a reprieve shouldn’t activate any primal reflex that would allow you to crawl out from under that rock. As the black bear in winter takes to his den so should you remain silent in your lair. If Hillary does emerge in the spring as a viable candidate you may then come out and expose your undying
allegiance to her. Til then why don’t you just sit back and relax.
hey MR Ed,Hillary is a very viable candidate,seems she has a lot of people nervous.
after the response you received from Joe from Iraq,i thought You would crawl under a rock,but your desire be on the stump and Talk A Lot and Say Nothing is a pretty good imitation of o’bama.