The great media let-down

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Why everyone is turning on the psephologists for not having made accurate
predictions about Verdict 2004. They may not have forecast a Congress-led
victory, but at least they got the trend right. The group that should be
hauled over the coals is the media. Journalists are not in the business of
making predictions. But we in the media should at least have been able to
report, first, the countrywide resentment about the National Democratic
Alliance Government's performance on bread and butter issues and, secondly,
the anger about the BJP-led coalition's election campaign. We did neither.
If we had, the results would not have been as surprising as they now seem.
And the amazing thing is that after being "stunned" by the verdict, there is
very little reflection about how and why the media did not do the job it was
expected to do.

Source:
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/05/23/stories/2004052300200300.htm