The Volokh Conspiracy - Big Difference in Post-Debate Spin.

I watched a bit of the post-debate spin at FOX News, CBS, and ABC. CBS and ABC couldn't have been more different from FOX. The spin from commentators was pro-Palin at FOX and pro-Biden at CBS and ABC.

The Frank Luntz focus group results were stunningly strong for Palin.

At CBS, on the other hand, the instant poll of "uncommitted" voters showed 2-to-1 reporting that Biden won.

Once again, we need to integrate newsrooms politically to get truly balanced reporting.

By the way, I thought that, by conventional measures, Biden won the first third fairly clearly, while Palin was even or ahead in the last two thirds of the debate. If I had to pick an overall winner, I would lean slightly toward Biden, though Palin exceeded expectations more clearly than Biden.

So if pundits' evaluation of the first presidential debate as a near-tie was spun as a win for Obama, then if pundits end up evaluating the vice presidential debate as a near-tie should that be spun as a win for Palin? Or should we stop declaring a winner at all and talk more about what we've learned?

	[Jim Lindgren, October 2, 2008 at 11:06pm] Trackbacks Big Difference in Post-Debate Spin. I watched a bit of the post-debate spin at FOX News, CBS, and ABC. CBS and ABC couldn't have been more different from FOX. The spin from commentators was pro-Palin at FOX and pro-Biden at CBS and ABC. The Frank Luntz focus group results were stunningly strong for Palin. At CBS, on the other hand, the instant poll of "uncommitted" voters showed 2-to-1 reporting that Biden won. Once again, we need to integrate newsrooms politically to get truly balanced reporting. By the way, I thought that, by conventional measures, Biden won the first third fairly clearly, while Palin was even or ahead in the last two thirds of the debate. If I had to pick an overall winner, I would lean slightly toward Biden, though Palin exceeded expectations more clearly than Biden. So if pundits' evaluation of the first presidential debate as a near-tie was spun as a win for Obama, then if pundits end up evaluating the vice presidential debate as a near-tie should that be spun as a win for Palin? Or should we stop declaring a winner at all and talk more about what we've learned?