Who was victorious in covering the 2024 presidential election coverage? - Poynter

At this election, there’s been an unexpected tie. MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki and CNN’s John King proved themselves masterful map readers during Tuesday (and early Wednesday morning’s coverage) of Election Night coverage, respectively. CNN effectively gave Jake Tapper and King, their map, and reporters from around the country the reins to cover this important political news story. Later Anderson Cooper moderated an expert panel, but King and his map provided coverage from every angle. Both Kings and Kornacki moved at lightning-speed, using their fingertips to switch quickly between states and countries. Expertise demonstrated and authority spoken with made viewers immediately experts on Pennsylvanian, Georgian, and North Carolinian voting habits. King and Kornacki provided incredible insight, detailing everything from voter totals, votes left uncounted, comparisons between 2020 and 2016, to where things stood going forward. Thanks to King and Kornacki, viewers could quickly gauge where results would head. So when the numbers arrived, viewers already understood what they represented and who stood to benefit from them. Nothing makes an audience member feel smarter after watching an analyst; that is exactly what Kornacki and King do; they give you confidence you know more and feel informed than before watching their show. Other networks provided their maps as well, yet King and Kornacki held court. Regarding media coverage of state votes in 2012 and 2016, Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple wrote as follows. :”One point regarding media coverage: All three cable news networks employ so-called ‘county czars,’ or experts that break down state vote totals county by county.” Bill Hemmer at Fox News is known for being both smooth and knowledgeable; John King at CNN offers extensive knowledge; while Steve Kornacki at MSNBC stands as an industry standard in this arena. Just now I watched him quickly run through all the places where Harris is outshone by Biden across New York’s electoral map, in particular its five boroughs. No Harris supporter could possibly view such an expose without coming away feeling disillusioned and disheartened. MSNBC viewers surely did. Late Tuesday evening, when Donald Trump appeared headed towards winning the election, there came to light this realization of just how far back Donald had come: ABC News’ Jonathan Karl said it best: he believed Trump to be on track for one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed in American political history. Karl discussed Trump’s dramatic history: impeachments, losing 2020 election, January 6 insurrections, criminal charges against him and an implosion of Republican efforts at midterm election results in 2022. At first glance on Wednesday morning, Donald Trump appeared likely to win back the White House. Fox News anchor Bret Baier suggested as much. When speaking of how close Trump may come, Baier suggested: ‘we aren’t calling these states yet; we need to wait and see where these raw vote totals go; yet you would rather be him than anyone else.” His path appears clearer now. Since January 7, 2021 until now – which represents one of the greatest political comebacks ever witnessed by humanity – we’ve witnessed. At 8:58 p.m. ET on November 8th, following news that voting had stalled in Georgia, CNN’s John King advised viewers at home: “That tells me to tell them not to overindulge in popcorn or make some more since this may take awhile – perhaps make an additional pot?” Thanks be to God that our country won’t wait until after Election Day to talk about immigration policy again; rather, NBC News senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur tweeted Tuesday night about an exit poll showing President Donald Trump making double-digit gains with Latino voters. At one point on Tuesday evening, Latino voters had cast 53% for Harris and 45% for Trump compared to 2020 when Latino voters cast 65-70% votes for Biden over Trump. Meanwhile during NewsNation coverage Chris Cuomo mentioned receiving some good advice from his daughter during an impromptu call she made him on Tuesday evening. Cuomo told Elizabeth Vargas of co-anchor Elizabeth Cuomo’s advice regarding women and voting: “[She heard that I] mentioned something related to female voters, so she called to tell me to shut up and allow you to speak – always good advice].” NewsNation political editor Chris Stirewalt made something that has since become all too clear about our country: he said on air, observing redder places becoming redder while bluer ones turn more Republican with rural precincts becoming increasingly Republican: Suburban precincts are increasingly Democratic.” A week before the election, Donald Trump spent three hours talking on Joe Rogan’s podcast; Kamala Harris had also been invited but eventually declined due to failed negotiations. Harris agreed to appear on Rogan’s show for one hour if he were willing to meet her on the campaign trail; unfortunately, that never materialized due to time limitations in Austin, Texas where Rogan lives; thus it never materialized; nor has anything come of it, save for one story that follows this scenario from its endpoint to this one story from hereon out. Gadi Schwartz was reporting from Arizona for MSNBC and she learned of the Rogan factor by speaking to two voters at Arizona State University. Schwartz said one of them stated they had been undecided up until Kamala didn’t appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast and this influenced their vote for Donald Trump, although they said they could listen to Kamala speak on future podcasts as an option. They ended up voting against Kamala but remain open-minded towards listening to Kamala on Joe Rogan shows or podcasts.” He told her she wasn’t seeming real because of how quickly her conversation had to end, or because it couldn’t go on for any extended period of time. Over the weekend, The Des Moines Register/Mediacom conducted an unexpected poll that unexpectedly put Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump by 47% to 44% – further disbelief was experienced among pollsters and pundits, making this surprising outcome all the more shocking. Many were doubtful whether Harris could actually win Iowa, yet this poll gave Harris supporters some optimism that maybe this win might portend good things elsewhere in the nation. Unfortunately for them, however, their prediction turned out to be inaccurate: As of early morning with 95% of votes counted and 90%+ votes cast Trump lead Iowa with 56% to 42% lead. MSNBC’s Michele Norris reported from Harris headquarters late Tuesday evening: Harris and staff came up with the phrase: nauseously optimistic”. As the night progressed, though, this likely turned into just being “nauseous”. At 11 p.m. Tuesday evening when Donald Trump appeared likely to win, David French wrote in The New York Times columnist David French’s column for New Times about Ukraine: he can only imagine what Kyiv must be feeling right now: Ukrainians have sacrificed everything to defend their nation against Russian aggression; now, however, there’s the distinct possibility that democracy’s arsenal may abandon them during an urgent moment in need of support. Columnist Nicholas Kristof noted, “Many in the intelligence community believed Russia was interfering in our election in an effort to help Donald Trump win; they believed if Trump wins then Putin also wins.” Putin proved his mettle during the Chechen war by outlasting critics; when he invaded Ukraine a decade later he bet against such criticism from Western sources – something Trump’s election could do.” Jon Stewart closed Comedy Central’s election night coverage of “The Daily Show” by criticizing pollsters with some choice words I can’t print here, before eventually calmly concluding “what we know for sure is that none of this matters at all”. Stewart went on to state, “All we really know for certain is this: nothing.” And we will leave this election making all sorts of pronouncements about what this country and world should be; but in truth we won’t actually understand (expletive). And yet it may appear as though our civilization is heading in one direction only. And I would just like to underscore, for context’s sake, that whatever lessons our pundits draw from these results and proclaim with conviction will likely prove false. Michael Boyle of The Daily Beast noted, “After prior elections, pundits often made bold predictions regarding race relations. For instance, after Barack Obama won in 2008 they predicted that race had moved past being an issue while for 2020 they believed Donald Trump had to leave politics altogether.” Stewart maintained that none of these statements were true and promised his audience: ‘But this is not the end. Regroup and fight relentlessly if we wish for the better society for our children, planet, country that we know exists; that it’s possible. It is absolutely achievable.” Though many will seek to criticize pollsters, most polls found the race very tight within its margin of error – often even within polling stories that stressed they really couldn’t say who would win! As night turned into morning and no one declared the winner of their race, you could make the case that most polls (for the most part) accurately predicted what occurred; those upset about them might just have read what they wanted into them. Even without having announced a winner yet, CNN’s Van Jones issued an alarming message. Jones was responding to remarks made by CNN contributor and former Trump advisor David Urban who asserted that Donald Trump’s election win could be seen as “regular people’s way” of showing elites they didn’t appreciate being talked down to and that there should be an evaluation that Trump isn’t so crazy with his ideas about economic and border policies etc. Jones responded that she is concerned with those outside of any elite who may be affected by tonight’s events and who are experiencing hardship. There are African American women who know all too well how it feels to have their economic goals crushed, who tried their hardest to dream big over recent months, only for it all to end tonight in disappointment and pain. They hoped, perhaps this time around, someone from among themselves might finally be seen worthy of acceptance, only to face further rejection – this hurt them badly. Tomorrow morning they thought they might walk out with shoulders back a bit; maybe for once they would finally feel relieved from tension! Jones also mentioned other communities and individuals affected by Trump’s potential victory, such as those within trans communities and immigrants who may feel marginalized as well. “People woke up dreaming,” Jones observed. “And are going back to sleep with nightmares.” If you have feedback or suggestions for improvement on any issue covered herein, contact Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones via [email protected]; our daily media newsletter The Poynter Report can also be signed up for here.