Fox News was First to Call The House
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Many networks are now gun-shy when it comes to calling elections. Past gaffs has made the tv news people scared to make calls before they could be sure.
When it came to the news that the Democrats were going to take control of the House, Fox News was the first to make the call.
The NY Times writes that Fox News was the first major news organization to project that the Democrats would retake control of the House of Representatives, dealing a blow to the channel’s most famous viewer, President Trump.
“I know a lot of listeners out there, their heads are exploding,” the “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace said. “But this is going to be a very different Washington.”
About 50 minutes after Fox News’s call, NBC News followed suit. CNN did not weigh in with a definitive projection on the House until 11 p.m.
Many questioned Fox News and their early call, but it was the right.
Behind the scenes, Fox News was working with a different set of voter data than its rivals, after the channel opted out last year from a longstanding network consortium of exit polls. And Arnon Mishkin, Fox News’s polling chief, has made bold moves before: On election night in 2012, he made a memorable on-air appearance to reject the doubts raised by Karl Rove, the Fox News analyst, about whether Mr. Obama had really won Ohio.
Fox News showed that they were clearly at the top of their game this election.
