One Nation, Stunned, under…Trump?

In the wake of the presidential election, the media is in the media as many are accusing the press for swaying the election.

Meanwhile the press is acting like it’s totally confused with the results of the election. And from the looks of reactions during live, all-night coverage, news organizations seemed pretty caught off guard with the live-polls.

The New York Times had a graph on their website tracking the NYT projected winner and at 8:30 p.m., it all changed.

Screen Shot 2016-11-08 at 11.20.10 PM.pngThe question that many were asking Wednesday morning was: What happened? 

 What happened? 

The polls were clearly off. Did they poll citizens differently this election? Do THAT many people not have land-line phones anymore (the way pollers call to ask for your vote)? Were there THAT many silent voters who were bashful about admitting they would vote for Donald Trump? As of right now, no one has a clear answer.

Even Facebook is currently under allegations for swaying FB users opinions via fake articles and intense algorithms during the campaigning season this fall. But Mark Zuckerburger defended the company saying attempting to sway the pull of the election in any way is a “crazy idea.”

What we do know is the media is under fire for covering the horse race and not much else.

Leave it to the British at The Guardian to have taken a different route in the final weeks leading up to Election Day. Hear from the think-tank behind it all here.

Gary Young was on to something. Some thing that no American reporters caught on to.

Take a look at his final product here.

What if? What if? What if mainstream national American media coverage looked like that this election season?

What if we covered the voices in America that make up 95% of the population opposed to the 5%?

Surely this would have changed the tune of the presidential debates; therefore changing the social media rants and blackmail. Therefore, changing the polls leading up to Election Day.

America didn’t see Donald Trump coming as a real, tangible president until, according to NYT, 8:30 p.m. That doesn’t mean America wasn’t hopeful for him to rise to the top.

It seems as though much national media has lost sight of who America really is. Maybe journalists will start to report on the human experience and less on an inaccurate set of numbers. Maybe this next go-round we will see a media who better represents the American people as a whole so supporter or non-supporter of the new president, we’re not one nation stunned under Trump.

Cover Photo Credits: David Levene

 

 

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