Time For the Media to Stop Playing Nostradamus

 

The establishment media got it wrong.  Again.

For the past 48 hours Hillary Clinton couldn’t do anything right.  She showed too much emotion at the wrong time.  Or if you were more cynical or in the right-wing conspiracy crowd, she faked too much emotion at the right time.  Her husband was too negative on Barack Obama.  The headlines were clear.  She was doomed.   

Yesterday’s New York Times: “Key campaign officials may be replaced.  She may start calling herself the underdog. Donors would receive pleas that it is do-or-die time. 

Yesterday’s Washington Post: “Obama has opened up a clear lead, and a second victory over Clinton would leave the New York senator’s candidacy gasping for breath.”  

Yesterday’s Boston Herald: “She’s So Yesterday,” with a cover shot of the old Beatles record.

All of this discussion before a single vote was cast in New Hampshire.  The media played Nostradamus and for the second time this decade they got it completely wrong in a Presidential election.

Now the media isn’t happy, and its running for cover. 

The best example of this comes from the New York Times:“There are other theories out there for what contributed to the unusual dynamic in New Hampshire. One is offered by Jon A. Krosnick, a professor of social sciences at Stanford University. He has done some research suggesting that the candidate whose name appears first on the ballot has an advantage over those whose names appear further down the list.” So Senator Clinton won the New Hampshire primary because her first name started with a ‘C.’  It sure is a good thing she changed her last name from Rodham.  Boy, those Clinton’s are smart.  Joe Biden should have hung in there a little longer.

Phoenix Media had this reaction to the election results: ‘Clinton didn’t “upset” Obama yesterday, and whatever “comeback” she made comes with a gargantuan asterisk.’  Clinton didn’t upset Obama, how on earth can you possibly come to that conclusion? Every single newspaper in this country had her not only losing the election but also planning for a possible early exit from the race, yet her victory wasn’t a comeback?

 It has been noted that Chris Matthews, for whatever reason, was particularly harsh on Clinton in the weeks and days leading up to the New Hampshire primary.  He seemed stunned on air to be reporting that somehow she might actually win.  He didn’t want to take any responsbility for completely misinforming the American public as to what was going to happen in New Hampshire.  So he blamed the pollsters instead.  That’s when Tom Brokaw intervened.  

 Brokaw: You know what I think we’re going to have to go back and do?
 
Matthews: Yes sir?
 
Brokaw: Wait for the voters to make their judgment. (Laughs) What a novel idea.

Matthews: Well, what do we do then in the days before the balloting? We must stay home then, I guess.

Brokaw: No, no we don’t stay home. There are reasons to analyze what they’re saying. We know, from how the people voted today, what moved them to vote. We can take a look at that. There are a lot of issues that have not been fully explored during all this.  But we don’t have to get in the business of making judgments before the polls have closed, and trying to stampede and affect the process.

 Bravo, Tom Brokaw.

Here’s a concept - it is time for the media to put away its book of quatrains, and take off its sorcerer’s cap.  Leave the horse race predictions to the Las Vegas sports book, and instead cover what the candidates do and say. 

On both sides of the political spectrum everyone agrees this is an important election.  It’s too important for the media to muck it up.  Report the news that has happened instead of telling us what is going to be.  Provide context on events that are unfolding without telling us how it is going to end.   Be a reporter and not a predicter. 

Wouldn’t that be a nice change?