Jake Tapper: The media is in ‘a rough place’ after ‘misreading’ the election

CNN’s Jake Tapper said Tuesday that the media is in “a rough place” after “misreading” November’s presidential election.

During an interview with TheWrap, Tapper said that “there was a lot of misreading of information” leading up to Nov. 8 and blasted anchors who provide “safe spaces” for politicians.

“I don’t know one poll that predicted Wisconsin was going to go for Trump, and it did fairly convincingly,” he said, adding:

We in the analysis department relied too heavily on those numbers, which are just snapshots based on models; they’re not facts. … The media is in a rough place right now. We have a lot of work to do to regain ground with our readers, viewers and listeners, providing them with as much information as possible and asking appropriately tough questions. I hope that we in the media rise to the challenge.

Tapper also said that he thinks there is “a lot of frustration with the media for not asking follow-up questions and not challenging people in power efficiently.”

“I sometimes feel that way about my own work, that I’m not really doing enough,” Tapper admitted. “I read a lot of the criticism both of the media in general and also me specifically, and when I think people are right, I take their criticism to heart. … I work hard to be as persistent as I could be.”

Asked if the media as a whole has been “too slow in figuring this how to deal with Trump,” Tapper replied, “It’s very frustrating to watch interviews with any politician in which you feel that politician that needs to be held accountable to answer a certain question or is saying things that aren’t true.”

“The public needs to make sure that reporters and interviewers are doing their jobs,” he added. "If we’re all doing our jobs, then you wouldn’t be able to shop around for anchors that provide safe spaces.”

When asked if his network gave Trump too much airtime as a candidate, Tapper replied that “we had some of the best debates, we had some of the toughest questions, we had some of the most probing interviews, and ultimately the voters went to the polls and they picked who they picked.”

(H/T: Mediaite)