Media: Failed predictions not end of the world

Re: “News media sullied by election mistakes,” (TNT, 11/8).

According to Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen: “Given this failure to correctly predict the election, is it any wonder that a lot of Americans don’t trust the media to call the election?”

How about precise weather forecasts? Precise outcomes to sporting events? Precise predictions regarding which plants will produce better-than-average yields in your veggie plot, particularly those which will be planted five months hence?

Precise predictions about the expected behavioral outcomes of your middle son, especially since he has been “such a good boy” through the first ten years of his life? Precise predictions about how well one might enjoy a particular movie, given that it was critically acclaimed?

I could go on and on.

A media columnist decrying his faith in media reporting sounds a lot like: “Don’t believe anything unless you hear it from us.”

Incidentally, if anyone is in possession of T-shirts, bumper stickers, ball caps, etc. from the 2016 election, I will pay top dollar for all you can supply.

You know, the ones that proclaimed:“You lost. Get over it.”

This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Media: Failed predictions not end of the world."