I Wasn't The Only One Angry About Drudge & Other Exit Polls

[West Coast Democrat]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031008/ap_on_en_tv/recall_tv_13

Networks Call Election After Polls Close
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - For television journalists, Arnold Schwarzenegger's easy victory in the California recall revived questions about whether they have a responsibility not to characterize election results before all voters get the chance to weigh in.

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But on Fox News Channel more than an hour before polls closed, Sean Hannity noted during an interview with a Democratic California assemblyman that exit polls pointed toward a Schwarzenegger victory.

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Reporting early exit poll results is also dangerous because the numbers can change as the day goes on, said Tom Hannon, CNN's political director.

Yet the networks also face the pull of competition and the natural instinct not to sit on information that they know. Many network executives were aware that the Internet's Drudge Report was declaring the race a landslide well before polls closed.

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