How about the Media's electoral fraud?

House Begins Probe Into Media's Early Award Of Florida To Gore Did early call for Gore 'disenfranchise' Florida panhandle, other Bush voters? By Jon E. Dougherty http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ 11-12-00 As the recount of votes continues in Florida, a House Commerce subcommittee has launched an investigation into the premature declaration of a Florida victory by Al Gore and whether the declaration by major television networks could have led supporters of Republican Gov. George W. Bush to decide not to cast a ballot. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. Rep. William J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Commerce Committee's subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection, has sent letters to major television networks and the Associated Press asking a series of questions about why they broadcast an early Gore victory in Florida. Tauzin, who said hearings would most likely be planned sometime next year, questioned whether the early call discouraged some voters from casting ballots because they had been informed that the state had already fallen to the vice president. In his letter, Tauzin said the early call "may have sent a signal out to Americans that this election was being decided in a way that was not accurate. When they're being told by the networks that it's already over, that's akin to disenfranchising them," he added. The major networks -- NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox and ABC -- as well as the Associated Press all placed Florida and its now-crucial 25 electoral votes in Gore's column between 7:49 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT on election day. Besides discouraging some from voting, critics have pointed out that the networks and major newswire services erred because they also failed to realize that Florida's "panhandle" is in a different time zone. Most of the state is on Eastern Daylight Time; the panhandle is on Central Standard Time, or one hour later. But it wasn't until nearly two hours later -- at 9:55 p.m. EDT -- that networks began retracting the Gore win and placing the state back in the "undecided" category. Then, by early Wednesday morning -- around 2:20 a.m. EDT -- the networks called Florida for Bush, but later once again retracted the call after discovering that vote tallies for Gore were making the race much tighter than expected. At the center of the controversy, Tauzin said, is a little-known wire service called the Voter News Service, which uses exit polling and some actual results to determine winners of political races. Once the information is obtained, VNS transmits the information to its media subscribers, which includes all the major networks. Some are concerned that Tauzin's subcommittee probe might be overreaching. "I don't intend to violate the law or the spirit of the First Amendment," Tauzin told reporters. "The intent is to find out what went wrong in this system." On Friday, WorldNetDaily reported that election officials in the Pensacola, Fla., office have been inundated with telephone calls from irate voters who claim they were discouraged from voting for Bush Tuesday when the New York-based TV networks called Florida for Gore before polls closed in the state's western panhandle. Republicans and other critics have said that vote could have been crucial in helping to tip the scales for Bush because that region of the state, comprising 10 counties, is largely conservative. Voters in the Pensacola area reported seeing citizens who were standing in line waiting to cast ballots get out of line and leave after hearing the network announcements that Gore had won the state. Tauzin agrees that the voter turnout for Bush in that sector of the state may have been depressed as supporters of the Texas governor became discouraged after hearing the news and felt their vote was no longer important. [b]In 1985, major networks and newswires signed anagreement to end the practice of using voter exit polls to call races early until all polling stations in a state are closed[b][shows what little good faith they have]. Tauzin suggested that "a new agreement" may now be needed, but he emphasized that Congress would not move to legislate one. "We should not try to pass laws about how people report elections," he said Friday. As of late in the day, network executives said they had yet to see Tauzin's letter, but some were already discussing how the system broke down. "I think it is fair to say that we will be looking very closely at our procedures to try to ensure that we don't make these kind of mistakes again, and a thorough study is clearly going to take a while," CBS News Director of Surveys Kathleen Frankovic told her own news organization. "We are conducting a top-to-bottom review of our election night projections to establish exactly what happened," ABC News spokesman Jeff Schneider told CBS. "We will take whatever steps necessary to ensure this doesn't happen again." Meanwhile, NBC News spokesman Barbara Levin told CBS her network was "very concerned about the VNS data and believe the Florida call warrants a careful examination. We will work to get to the bottom of it." Florida state Republican officials are not only concerned about the premature victory call, but also what they consider the networks' belated announcement that the initial call for Gore was inaccurate. "The announcement was made at 6:49 p.m. local time, which means it was 4:49 (p.m.) in California, where they still had two hours and 11 minutes to vote," Escambia County Republican Party chairman Tom Gilliam told WorldNetDaily. "If I'm going to the polls in California and I hear it's already over and that the big battleground states have already gone for Gore, then why would I want to go and vote for Bush?" he said. © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com ~~~ I think the premature calling of elections by the media is in the same catagory as yelling "fire" in a crowded theater...Very Irresponsible to say the least __________________ I have always felt that the media shouldn't release any information until all polls are closed. Because it definately influences votes. People who would normally vote might not if they think it doesn't matter or vice versa. I think the media is more concerned with being the first to announce not the most accurate. __________________ ONLY IN AMERICA-- DO WE USE THE WORD "POLITICS" TO DESCRIBE THE PROCESS SO WELL: "POLI" IN LATIN MEANING "MANY" -- AND "TICS" MEANING "BLOOD SUCKING CREATURES".............................. Mavi forum