A pretense of accountability

Among the egregious errors of fact committed by FOX News on election night, the early projection that Democrats would pick up five seats in the House. As of this morning, Republicans have picked up at least 9 House seats. The tweets below document the call and ask what happened.

As I have noted a few times, when FOX News called Arizona for Biden, more than 800,000 votes had yet to be counted. Arnon Mishkin, the smiling head of the channel’s so-called Decision Desk, appeared on-camera to assure viewers that Biden would widen his lead substantially in the uncounted votes. As of this morning, Biden’s Arizona lead has narrowed from 7 points to .34 percent (fewer than 12,00 votes).

We are left to wonder and surmise what happened. What accounts for Mishkin’s miss? FOX News has so far rested on its right to remain silent. FOX News owes its remaining viewers an explanation.

Eight days after the election, Bret Baier acknowledged on Special Report last night that FOX News got the House call wrong. That was big of him, but (again) we are left to wonder and surmise what happened. Baier’s acknowledgement of error amounts to a pretense of accountability. (Again) FOX News owes its remaining viewers an explanation.

What happened? Either they don’t get it or they don’t want to get it. This doesn’t cut it. Indeed, this is an embarrassment.

Via Robert Stacy McCain/The Other McCain.

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