CBS Marketwatch - November 8, 2001
Media recount story set to break First stories on Florida ballot review will run Monday By William Spain, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 4:45 PM ET Nov. 8, 2001 CHICAGO (CBS.MW) -- Temporarily lost in the aftermath of Sept. 11, what could be one of the biggest news stories of the year is about to break.
Beginning in February, the National Opinion Research Center, working at the behest of a consortium of media companies, labored for months to tally uncounted votes in the disputed election that eventually led to George W. Bush's victory in Florida and, ultimately, to his presidency.
NORC's tabulation of 180,000 ballots that did not register votes during initial machine counts was complete before Labor Day and was slated for media release in mid-September. The data were held back at the behest of sponsors who felt they did not have the resources to analyze it properly with so many reporters busy covering the attacks. See full story.
However, NORC quietly turned over its findings early this week. The Associated Press said Thursday that its first coverage will go out on the wire Sunday for newspaper use the following day. Follow-ups begin Monday for use Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the New York Times Co. (NYT: news, chart, profile) told CBS.MarketWatch.com late Thursday that the company's flagship paper will run with its own story Monday.
Apart from the AP and the Times, companies contributing to the estimated $500,000 cost of the project were Dow Jones (DJ: news, chart, profile), Washington Post Co. (WPO: news, chart, profile), Tribune Co. (TRB: news, chart, profile), AOL Time Warner (AOL: news, chart, profile) and a couple of independent Florida newspapers. Under the terms of the unusual agreement, the results would be given to all consortium members at the same time, with an agreed period in which to independently analyze them before going public.
Other news outlets have done their own recounts in Florida, with results showing everything from a larger margin for Bush to a slight edge for Democrat Al Gore, depending on how the ballots are interpreted.