Drama of Obama win trumped technology and tricks in TV coverage

In the end, all the glitzy graphics, whiz-bang technology and far-flung reporters mattered little.

All it took were video images of supporters celebrating in the streets — people of all ethnicities with tears in their eyes — for TV outlets to communicate the drama of America’s historic choice Tuesday to elect its first black president.

“America has changed its mind about race and leadership in this country,” said liberal-leaning MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow minutes before 11 p.m., when TV outlets predicted electoral wins for Democrat Barack Obama in California and Washington state, effectively sealing his victory over Republican John McCain.

“It’s unreal,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a veteran of the '60s-era civil rights movement, on NBC. “Everything we tried to do to create a more perfect union . . . it was worth it.”

TV’s talking heads tried hard throughout the night to avoid jumping the gun with too-early projections. But by 9:30 p.m., some channels were predicting key states in Obama’s win column, including Pennsylvania and Ohio, eliminating many of McCain’s paths to the presidency.

Less than 15 minutes later, CNN reporter John King used the channel’s imposing “Magic Wall” electoral map touchscreen to show virtually no path left for a McCain victory.

“You don’t want to call it, there’s still people on the West Coast who can vote,” said MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough, a former GOP Congressman from Pensacola. “But I don’t see any way (McCain) can win, unless there’s a huge turnaround in Florida.”

Lots of folks were shown near tears, from CBS correspondent Byron Pitts to civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. On ABC, conservative George Will even turned Obama’s win into an argument against affirmative action.“(Voters are) saying race is irrelevant . . . let’s get beyond this,” Will said.

As the election returns piled up, the results also offered a big win for TV pundits, some of whom had been foreshadowing an Obama victory all day.

NBC’s numbers expert Chuck Todd referenced the late host of Meet the Press, Tim Russert, writing “Bush, Bush, Bush” in bold yellow lettering the same way Russert pinpointed Florida as a key state eight years ago.

This time, Todd was explaining how the president’s massive unpopularity likely tilted the election . “It’s one guy who has taken the party down with him,” he said.

On right-leaning Fox News Channel, the atmosphere was positively funereal, with former Bush adviser Karl Rove already predicting an electoral win for Obama and assorted pundits wondering if they were watching the splintering of the modern Republican party.

“I’ve always said we were a center-right country,” Fox News’ Brit Hume said, anchoring his last election before retirement. “Are we now a center-left country?”

CNN may have unveiled the biggest technology boondoggle of the night, using 35 high-definition cameras to produce a holographic rendering of Chicago-based reporter Jessica Yellin in its New York studio that looked a lot like the flickering Princess Leia hologram from Star Wars.

And for those looking for a more unorthodox presentation, Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert offered Indecision 2008 coverage.

“I say . . . we cut (Vermont) loose,” bellowed Colbert, playing an outsized conservative pundit, after projecting an Obama win there. “We can go skiing in Colorado, and I can punch a hippie at Whole Foods.”

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Comments

Hey Ron...the last I checked 67% (.667) to 33% (.333) is 2 to 1...Didn't they teach you how to reduce your fractions in school...Oh, if it wasn't told to you by your TV set you didn't get it...Sad, sad, sad...And the Dem's are the enlightened ones...

Gotta give it to him...Obama figured out how to do what the Dem's have been trying to do since Reagan...Get the sheeple to care...He truly is very gifted.

[Ron]

The funniest thing in all of the coverage was seeing an early return from some state on Fox News. It shows Obama winning 67% - 33%, but when you looked at the actual vote count, it was 2-1. Priceless.

[Joel]

Pelosi's "unfairness doctrine" is a symptom of Bush Derangement Sydrome.

You know, Bush-hating Dems getting all mad that the conservative talk shows are the ones that are actually viable - people listen to the shows, thus advertisers are attracted, and thus shows pay their own freight and stay on the air.

So the Dems' solution is to essentially attack free speech by shutting down any voices in opposition to the voices on the left.

We'll see if Obama turns out to be more a free speech champion than all that.

[RagsTTIger]

Fox outfoxed itself with technology, as did the other networks. FNC had some odd technical glitches.

While I wasn't impressed with any of the network coverages, I was disappointed by FNC. Brit Hume, droll as usual, seems to be going through the motions. As a matter of fact, I think he's been "phoning it in" since he announced his upcoming semi-retirement. All the chair rolling and sort of slap happy interactions forced me to turn them off to watch my DVR

As far as calling races, it is an art. The media been burned by their polls in the past. The mechanics of reporting alone delays a process. Naturally larger cities get reported first. With the differences between city vs rural/suburban areas, the data must be fine tuned. By giving a running total, the viewer must look at the percentage of districts reporting to have the data make sense. One wouldn't want to release the famous Dixwell Notch, NH midnight election returns, extrapolating them for the entire state.

Sadly the election process was sullied by the media. The media wanted a particular outcome and did everything in their power to make it happen. The concept of presenting the news, not becoming part of it, was voided.

In a strange twist Pelossi will again be pushing for her new "fairness" doctrine. This will be applied to broadcasters in such a way that the dreaded word censorship will be back flourishing. These proposed administrative mandates will be costly to companies. We all know costs to companies are pushed down the line to consumers. We live in scary times over the airwaves, as the FCC continues to bungle its way through life with antiquated approaches to evolving technology.

[Eric Deggans]

Once Obama was definitively pronounced the winner, Fo's tone seemed to change. but in the early eveing as the repulbican losses were mounting, the mood seemed grim at FNC.

That's the great thing about opinions, though -- everyone can have one....

[Gordon]

How much of Fox News did you watch?

Your characterization of its coverage is inaccurate.

The atmosphere was hardly "funeral." Brit Hume waxed eloquent about how "historic" the election was, and what a positive thing it was for America to have a black face in the Oval Office (even if Obama has a mixed-race heritage).

The "dreaded" Karl Rove offered accurate analysis of the returns, correctly saying that the loss of Pennsylvania was a huge blow to McCain, and that the loss of Ohio essentially meant that McCain had no path to victory. Rove also talked about the historic and positive change suggested by the ascension of a black man to the highest office in the land.

Fox has by far been more balanced than MSNBC, whose anchors, particularly Olgermann, practically dripped with contempt every time they mentioned the GOP.

And it's well documented that the coverage of the election by CNN
and the major networks has been pro-Obama to a fault.

Fox consistently has included heavy-duty liberal voices - Howard Wolfson (on now), Paul Begala, Geraldine Ferraro, NPR's Juan Williams - in its crossfire-style segments.

MSNBC? Not so much.

No wonder that Fox continues to absolutely destroy its cable competition in the ratings.

And now, with the Obama honeymoon in full bloom, Fox will be a more crucial news source for those looking for a balance between the party line (white house/MSM) and the voice of opposition to the people in power.

Now that Obama represents the "establishment," Fox is positively "anti-establishment."

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

Oh - yes, that hologram gimmick was major-stupid. Almost anyone (including me in my home office/studio) could have done a better, albeit less gimmicky, job with one decent video camera, a green screen background, and the chromakey function built into most modern video editing software.

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

We may need to start redefining "right-leaning" and "left-leaning." It is entirely possible that the "biased left-wing MSM" is actually more in tune with the belief sets held by most Americans than "unbiased" Fox, Drudge, World Net Daily or Free Republic.

Evidence: Barack Obama not only won, but by a margin large enough to be called a "mandate" by people who get paid to use such words when pontificating about politics.

"The only constant is change" - Heraclitus

(A quote subsequently picked up by Diogenes, Plato, Isaac Asimov, and many others.)

[drinklime]

i flipped past fox news, and i saw the host dude bring up the graphic for some state, it was like 60-40 obama, and the host nervously said "as you can see its way too close to call"

i changed the channel

[Eric Deggans]

I said right-leaning in the story, because it releated to the point I was making -- that they seemed deflated by Obama's win.

[Billy]

I notice you say "right-leaning" Fox News Channel. But why don't you also say the "left-leaning MSNBC"? You can't honestly tell me as a journalist that the MSM...especially MSNBC...haven't shown a tremendous liberal bias during this election. Fox News Channel has actually been exceedingly fair in my opinion. I have a degree in Journalism. Where are the unbiased journalists anymore? I was taught in J-school that above else be neutral and don't insert yourself or your opinions into the story. I guess Katie, Brian, et al, missed that day in class.