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Friday, November 5, 2004
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Media whore alert -- ABC edition!!
I may (or may not) be on ABC World News Tonight this evening. The story is about the merits of releasing exit poll information to the public the day of the election. My mantra: the democratization of information is a good thing, but exit polls should be treated like cigarettes -- warning labels like this one are appropriate. Mystery Pollster Mark Blumenthal may or may not be in the segment as well. I recommended him -- and he's already got his talking points. They say I'll be on, but given what happened last time, I'll believe it when I see it -- three months from now. If I go on, readers may get the extra-special bonus of seeing my patented one-fingered typing style. That's what I was doing when they shot the b-roll -- you know the "action" footage of an interviewee as you hear, "Daniel Drezner, assistant professor..." on the voiceover. UPDATE: Alas, no b-roll, but they did use an excerpt. Note that when I'm interviewed as a blogger, I dress more casually. One thing that bugged me about the closing of the piece was the assertion that Internet content providers somehow did something "wrong" in posting the exit polls. None of the sources I looked at posted wrong numbers -- the flaws lay in the exit polls themselves. Furthermore, none of those who posted them said anything remotely close to, "with these exit polls, we're calling the election for Kerry." See Kevin Drum and Mark Blumenthal here and here for more on this. LAST UPDATE: Wow, this is a first -- after reading this post, someone from ABC World News Tonight just called to apologize for the last sentence in the story (it was put in there at the last minute). posted by Dan on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PMComments: "Whore" is such an ugly word, Dan. We all think of you as a media courtesan. posted by: Zathras on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]Dan -- I may or may not listen to this segment of yours :-). I'm curious though: for these appearances, do you get a paid an honorarium or something or is it just the doubtful privilege of being on TV ? Zathras: that's the nicest thing a commenter has said in recent weeks. With some luck, I may move up to media escort!! erg: no money -- it's just "the doubtful privilege of being on TV." posted by: Dan Drezner on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]Why sell yourself short as a media escort? Aim higher, become a media demimonde! posted by: Jody on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]"exit polls should be treated like cigarettes -- warning labels ... are appropriate" I think a better analogy is that exit polls should be treated like counterfeit currency: an intriguing curiosity at best and a dangerous fraud at worst. posted by: KipEsquire on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]Hey Dan! At least it wasn't a surprise interview with 60 Minutes! posted by: germ on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]You know, Dan isn't that kind of girl :) Yeah, I think the exit polls should be accompanied by a disclaimer: most of what you're about to hear is media junk food. posted by: Dallas on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]Note that when I'm interviewed as a blogger, I dress more casually. I get a little nervous when I see Drezner, Hindrocket, Cox et. al. preening before the MSM. They shouldn't give them the time of day.The power of the bloggers lies in not being co-opted by the MSM which is precisely why they are invited on. They should check their egos at the blogsite door. They're being used to no good purpose. posted by: Frank on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]Frank -- you're kidding, right? posted by: TREblog on 11.05.04 at 05:07 PM [permalink]Post a Comment: |
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