In Picking The Victors, Media Get Another Drubbing

IN PICKING THE VICTORS, MEDIA GET ANOTHER DRUBBING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
[Commentary] Clinton's come-from-behind moment came on the same evening that John McCain -- all but buried by the press last summer -- was winning New Hampshire's Republican primary. And it was five days after Mike Huckabee, all but ignored by the media for most of 2007, won in Iowa. The series of blown calls amount to the shakiest campaign performance yet by a profession seemingly addicted to snap judgments and crystal-ball pronouncements. Not since the networks awarded Florida to Al Gore on Election Night 2000 has the collective media establishment so blatantly missed the boat. The reasons are legion: News outlets are serving up more analysis and blogs to remain relevant in a wired world. Many cash-strapped organizations are spending less on field reporting, and television tries to winnow a crowded field for the sake of a better narrative. Cable shows and Web sites provide a gaping maw to be filled with fresh speculation. Tracking polls fuel a conventional wisdom that feeds on itself. The length of today's campaigns provides more twists and turns long before most voters tune in. And there is a natural journalistic tendency to try to peer around the next corner.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/09/AR2008010903473.html
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* Thomas E. Obama
[Commentary] Here's a simple explanation for what happened in New Hampshire. In the 96 hours between Thursday's victory by Barack Obama in Iowa and Tuesday morning, enough election output poured over voters to fill the entire Truman-Dewey campaign of 1948. This thunder said: Barack Obama is the party nominee, a new era has dawned on American politics and the election is now about "change." Like Dewey, he can't lose. New Hampshirites did what normal people do. They pushed back. Lesson learned: In elections yet to come in the Internet Age, it will be the habit of the media to overdo it. As is their wont, the voters will undo it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119992474591679481.html?mod=todays_us_opinion
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