Expect a huge audience Tuesday evening when the 2024 election results start pouring in. Four years ago, a combined 57 million people tuned in to the 21 broadcast and cable networks who offered coverage; in 2016, the collective audience was even greater: 71 million viewers, across 13 networks.
Yet even after all of the votes have been cast, and the collective voice of the people has chosen the country’s path for the next four years, journalists insist on getting the final word. Looking back at the MRC’s archives over the past 36 years, network correspondents present the results through the lens of their own biases — cheering when a Democrat wins, and snarling about imaginary dirty tricks when the voters back a Republican.
“[George H. W.] Bush won by default, and by fouls,” whined writer Gary Wills in 1988, after a presidential campaign that would seem downright dainty by…
