Television networks are changing their election night coverage techiques.

January 4, 2001 6:59 PM

Television networks are changing their election night coverage techiques. Both NBC and CBS have announced their changes for how they cover national elections in the future so as to save face with the audience. If this was Japanese TV, they would have dropped the show producers in a vat of acid by now. Oh well.
posted by Brilliantcrank (11 comments total)

Glory Be! A miracle has occurred. The networks have actually put the interests of democracy ahead of their own ratings!

Pardon me if I don't believe it. That's what they're saying now, while everyone is mad at them. Four years from now, will they stick by this? Will they even remember it?
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:29 PM on January 4, 2001

Hey, I've got an idea. Let's make sure they do remember.
posted by kindall at 9:37 PM on January 4, 2001

Do the Japanese really drop bad producers into vats of acid?
posted by JimmyTones at 11:28 PM on January 4, 2001

Not for the reasons you think. It's purely for entertainment, not to punish them.
posted by kindall at 6:51 AM on January 5, 2001

And in a separate announcement, NBC will display all election related visuals on Tim Russert's dry erase board.
posted by mecawilson at 6:56 AM on January 5, 2001

They gave false information on national television, the night of the election, the most important event of 2000. Can we still trust them for our information? Imagine what kinds of mistakes and false information they give to their audiences about regular everyday events.
posted by passionblack at 8:07 AM on January 5, 2001

The didn't give false information, they gave guesses. The fact that no one could possibly accurately guess the result that night made them look bad, and now they're going to make sure their ass is covered in the future.
posted by cCranium at 8:48 AM on January 5, 2001

As for me I will stick with Nickelodeon News for my election coverage.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 8:49 AM on January 5, 2001

Look at them! They're now going to "encourage people to continue voting"! Damn liberal media!
posted by dhartung at 9:34 AM on January 5, 2001

Okay well guesses are okay then. I feel better since I know it was just a guess. They didn't give false information, sorry they were only guessing.

What is a guess? Something that is told when a person does no the truth. If all the polls aren't close yet, like the case in Florida. Don't call the state. Common Sense.


posted by passionblack at 7:40 AM on January 8, 2001

There's a pretty big difference between a news source saying "This is true" and a news source saying "Based on the evidence we currently have, and the expertise of our analysts, we expect this to be the case."
posted by cCranium at 8:25 AM on January 8, 2001