Semafor asked various news people what they got wrong this year, and NBC News President Rebecca Blumenstein burbled this inanity that highlights two common flaws with news reporting in 2024 (boldface mine):
The enduring power of inflation on politics: Even as unemployment rates were at historic lows and inflation subsided, many voters simply do not share a sense of optimism–given the high prices of groceries, housing, higher education and healthcare. That profoundly affected the presidential race this year. One of the most memorable segments we did was about how people in Nebraska often drive two hours roundtrip to a bakery in Omaha to save two dollars a loaf on bread. The lesson is that polls are just one tool–and that it is essential that journalists stay close to voters across geographically diverse areas.
Unless people in Nebraska are really fucking stupid, no one is driving two hours to save two dollars on a loaf of bread. That’s a level of credulity which afflicts the political press corps far too often (e.g., the ‘undecided voter’ who is a former Republican staffer and voted for Trump previously–which is an actual thing the New York Times did). The other issue is this:
![[CHART 4] Percentage of NBC’s Nightly News economic segments during Q3 2024 through Election Day that mentioned…](https://i0.wp.com/live.staticflickr.com/65535/54236969807_926e0f2ed1.jpg?resize=500%2C475&ssl=1)
I’m sure this had nothing to do with people’s perceptions at all. A great conceit of news organizations is that they themselves do not drive the political discourse (except, of course, when they take credit for doing so).
mikethemadbiologist
And when viewers complain about it the press says “we only report on what the people want to hear.”
Which is manifestly untrue
Let’s not forget that Nebraska is a red state and Red States residents are famously functionally illiterate.
Let’s not forget that states like NE, SD, KS, etc. are made up of many small towns and only a few urban areas. If one wants to shop at something other than the dollar store or at the gas station (there are only 3 metropolitan areas and 9 micropolitan areas in 77,000 square miles), one has to drive 1-2-3 hours to a larger town.
Rebecca Blumenstein’s statement highlights two common flaws in contemporary news reporting: a tendency to take anecdotal, often questionable examples at face value (like the absurd claim of people driving two hours to save two dollars on bread) and an overreliance on polls without truly engaging with the broader, more complex realities voters are facing. These kinds of narratives perpetuate simplistic and often misleading views of voter behavior. The press can sometimes misrepresent real issues by focusing too much on isolated examples and failing to dig deeper into systemic or structural causes.