MSNBC got ahead of itself in its coverage of today’s midterm elections, showing the results of the race for governor in Florida a day before the actual election.
The New York Post reports that the cable news channel accidentally posted a graphic showing Democrat Andrew Gillum defeating former GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis by a margin of 49.4% to 48.8% with 99 percent of the precincts reporting.
The graphic was what the channel called a “misfire” as MSNBC was apparently testing the system ahead of the actual election.
Chris Hayes, the host of MSNBC’s “All In,” went on the air soon afterward to explain the gaffe.
“Just want to say, earlier this hour we showed a graphic of the Florida gubernatorial race. May have caught your eye because our system had inadvertently populated some test numbers,” Hayes is quoted saying. “Obviously, we do not yet have any vote totals here, the night before the election. That was a misfire. Don’t worry. I was pretty confused when I saw it up there, to see it myself.”
We always tested with names like Democratic Candidate and Republican Candidate and 0’s just in case someone accidentally put the graphic on the air which did happen from time to time. That way the audience never got the impression that we were trying to predict or influence the outcome of the election. Was there some reason that the real names and real numbers were needed?
Great points In your reply. I am with you.
You needed to ask if there was a reason?