Thursday, November 04, 2004

Wired News: Blogs Blamed for Exit Poll Fiasco

Wired News: Blogs Blamed for Exit Poll Fiasco: "'I didn't have any real compunction about putting it up there,' said Alan Nelson, co-manager of The Command Post. 'I didn't struggle with the decision, because I knew it was going to become a global news item within about 30 seconds.
'Our approach is: We post, you decide,' Nelson said.
But the people who read these numbers -- among them, thousands of ordinary Americans with an intense interest in the election -- put too much faith into them and leaped to conclusions, said Bill Schneider, CNN's polling expert.
'I think people believed them, and it's particularly the case with internet bloggers,' said Kathy Frankovic, CBS News' polling director. 'That's unfortunate because it sets up expectations that may or may not be met. I think it's a good exercise because it reminded people that early exit polls can be unreliable.'"

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