The US Democratic nomination race is finally inches away from the end and Barack Obama has his eye firmly on the prize. But this morning, some media outlets were getting ahead of themselves in the anticipation of it all.
We know the pressure to generate an audience can sometimes get overwhelming, but there’s no doubt News Limited jumped the gun on this one. Here’s what the Daily Telegraph reported at 7.26am:
Yet at 9.25am The New York Times was still only reporting Obama as moving closer to sealing the deal against Hillary.
So what does the Daily Telegraph know that The New York Times doesn’t?!
NEWS.com.au didn’t jump the gun with quite so much fervour, but their headline “Barack Obama ‘clinches Democratic nomination’” was definitely misleading.
The Age headline claimed “Obama seals nomination”. The article called the win “historic”, even reporting that Hillary Clinton was already manoeuvring herself for the position of Vice-President.
The BBC, meanwhile, wasn’t claiming Obama had won, but they did say that he would win. Here’s the way they framed Clinton’s comments to suggest it is only a matter of time before she will concede:
His rival Hillary Clinton has said she will not concede tonight, but is “open” to becoming Mr Obama’s running mate.
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