Burned by Bad Polls, Networks Try Restraint

BURNED BY BAD POLLS, NETWORKS TRY RESTRAINT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Alessandra Stanley]
On the biggest day of nominating contests ever, in the most exciting and closely watched election in years, television had to hold back. It was almost a painful sight: at times, anchors and commentators on Tuesday looked a little like children on Halloween who, after getting sick on candy one year, were forced to surrender their loot the next. News organizations were shaken by their misplaced faith in polls before the New Hampshire primary; they were humbled in 2004, when early tracking polls mistakenly suggested that Senator John Kerry would defeat President Bush. The impulse in television news is to tell viewers everything you know, as soon as you know even a piece of it. In the old days, election nights were a fierce three-network race to project a winner. Now they are increasingly about tamping down tracking poll predictions and about looking judicious and responsible. And as it turned, out, rightly so.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/us/politics/06watch.html?ref=todayspaper
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