Networks' projecting Florida for Gore early 'just plain stupid'

By Sheila Owens and Julie Jakolat
The Freedom Forum Online

12.08.00

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NEW YORK — Veteran journalists agreed it was "just plain stupid" to project Vice President Al Gore as the winner in Florida before the state's polls had all closed. They also said that in the aftermath of the election-night confusion and controversy, Election Day 2000 has been an important lesson in civics, history and politics for the American people.

"The first projection for Gore was ill-timed because the voting booths in the Panhandle area ... still had 10 minutes to go," Tim Russert of NBC News said. "But there is this sense of urgency that someone is beating us to the big story."

Now, he added, the networks should step forward and say, "We made a mistake, we're sorry and we're going to do everything we can to make sure we don't make it again."

Russert, Washington bureau chief and moderator of "Meet the Press," was joined in a panel discussion at the First Amendment Center by Michael Gartner, former president of NBC News, and Louis D. Boccardi, president and chief executive officer of the Associated Press.

So what exactly happened on election night?

At 8 p.m., the television networks and the AP projected Gore as the winner in Florida. The news organizations made their projections based on information collected by the news-media funded Voter News Service.

Boccardi recalled that when the AP election desk looked at the numbers, "everything said that, well within the margin of error of sampling in the state, Gore was safely ahead."

But by 10 p.m., as additional vote totals came in from Florida precincts, it became clear that Gore's victory in the state was no longer certain. It was then that the news organizations recanted, declaring the state too close to call.

Hours later, at 2:16 a.m., the Fox News Channel called Florida for George W. Bush based on VNS data. The rest of the television networks then followed suit, giving Florida and hence the presidency to Bush by 2:30 a.m. VNS and the AP did not call Florida for Bush.

"At the time the networks called, we were not comfortable with the data that we had from VNS," Boccardi said. "AP's independent vote count disagreed with the VNS vote count." An investigation is in progress, Boccardi said.

While "there's no excuse" for the wrong projections, journalists should be allowed to call a race when they are confident that their data from exit polls and vote totals is accurate, Gartner said. "Why shouldn't we be able to project at any time? There is this thing called free speech. It's not a government decision."

The idea of uniform poll closing nationwide "has a lot more momentum now," Russert said. "I don't think anyone will project before the polls in a given state close" in future elections. "I think we'll be more cautious."

The post-election news coverage has been an important lesson in politics and history for the American people, Russert added. The campaign coverage this year was "the best we have done in going beyond photo ops. It's opened up to the people how politics is run," he said.

Added Gartner: "If you love news, this was the greatest [story] in the world."

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