News Release

January 2, 2001

Don't blame media for the election 2000 mess
New Cato study rejects hearings on media mistakes, draws other election lessons

WASHINGTON—The television networks were roundly criticized for prematurely calling the presidential race on election night, but congressional hearings into media mistakes are a bad idea that could suppress free expression, a new Cato Institute study says.

"Supporters of a free society should worry that congressional hearings would have a chilling effect on the news media," according to Cato scholars John Samples, Tom G. Palmer and Patrick Basham in "Lessons of Election 2000." "Any government regulation of when and how the media report the results of exit polls would contravene the prohibitions explicitly stated in the First Amendment," they say.

The Cato report contains six lessons in all. In addition to shielding the media from government intrusion, the report recommends:

• Establishing a congressional commission to propose changes in the electoral system. Four prominent areas of concern are voting by those not properly registered, outdated voting technology, lax identification of qualified voters, and too much fraud-prone absentee voting. States should have the choice of accepting the reforms and the obligation to pay for them.



• Preserving the Electoral College. "Abolishing the Electoral College would weaken the states and damage federalism," the report says. The framers considered and rejected direct election of the president for fear that populous states would wield their power against smaller states. In addition, the Electoral College promotes national unity by requiring presidential candidates to campaign nationwide.



• Eliminating "the will of the people" from our political vocabulary. "The will of the people is a concept alien to the American political tradition of limited, constitutional government," the report says. "Indeed, the idea of the will of the people is ... deeply authoritarian."



• Recognizing support for limited government. Exit polls and other public opinion data found six of 10 Americans preferring "smaller government with fewer services," 57 percent favoring partial Social Security privatization, and only four in 10 saying the government should do more to solve America's problems.



• Embracing campaign spending. Far from alienating voters, robust campaign expenditures-whether hard money or soft, spent by the AFL-CIO or the Christian Coalition-boosted turnout in the 2000 elections. "Those who plump for restrictions on campaign contributions and spending would really encourage lower turnout and less participation," the report says.

"Lessons of Election 2000"

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