REUTERS: …The major TV news networks agreed to shield early exit poll data suggesting who is leading in a state until the state’s polls close. That means no tweeting exit polls, posting on Facebook, or re-tweeting figures reported by others.
“We will not either project or characterize a race until all the polls are scheduled to have closed in that state,” said Sheldon Gawiser, director of elections for NBC News.
Election officials worry that leaks could discourage people from voting i f they think the race in their state is already decided, depressing the vote count and distorting the results. In 1985, Congress extracted a promise from the major TV networks to refrain from using exit polls to project a winner in a particular state, or to characterize who is leading, while voting continues in that area… (more)
EDITOR: One of the roots for the disdain that NewsLanc’s editors have had for former New Era editor Ernie Schreiber was his practice of publishing the results of early local election day exit polling in the afternoon New Era. We considered this unfair and unethical. It is good to see that the national media concur.
