While as Brunswick student Michael Lindsay said, "The media is boss here, and the public relies on the media for our news," this Teenspeak reporter got the idea that the media did not totally live up to its job in presenting the American public with the issues that the candidates stood for. "I think that the media has done a fair job covering this election. I think that we, as the media, might have focused too much on the horse race, and not enough on the candidates' position on issues and style of leadership," said Fox political analyst Michael Barone.
In an interview TeenSpeak conducted a week prior to election night, Governor Weicker said, "The press came out favorably for Republican Senator John McCain because they wanted to see a horse race." This type of manufactured news and favoritism towards a particular candidate is something that many viewers feel should be avoided. Although TeenSpeak reporter Neda Jafar commented that she prefers to watch CBS-News because "I favor Bush over Gore and CBS seems to be promoting Bush at times."
Is this type of TV journalism, that in affect promotes another candidate irresponsible? Is jumping the gun on determining winners something that requires more than an apology from the news stations? The Project for Excellence in Journalism's Deputy Director Carl Gottlieb contends that, "People want credible news, and when in doubt, newscasters should err on the side of caution." Ryan Sherwin agrees. "I would rather wait the extra few hours for the true news instead of going to bed thinking a certain candidate has won the election, only to wake up and learn that wasn't true. This is unfair to the viewers and very irresponsible."
