Does the Media Influence the Media?

[RegisteredUconn]

This week, ESPN ran an article asking whether UConn deserved its #1 ranking. The contributors seemed to promote the idea that Oregon State was more deserving. There's a thread around here somewhere discussing that article but I don't care about that. What I was curious about was did that argument sway any of the press pundits, i.e., those voting in the AP Poll to modify their votes. Naturally, there are a variety of reasons one might change a vote so a point or two difference on way or the other could rationally be attributed to caprice. However, absent some compelling event(s) -- a bad loss or signature win -- a "large" swing, especially in Oregon State's favor and/or UConn's disfavor might be arguably attributed to press influence. So what happened?

In today's poll (week 9), the top 5 are:

	​
Team	1st Place	Points
UConn	19	722
Oregon	5	703
Oregon State	5	680
South Carolina	1	661
Stanford	0	622

In week 8, the top 5 were:

	​
Team	1st Place	Points
UConn	19	698
Oregon	5	680
Oregon State	4	654
South Carolina	1	638
Stanford	0	602

So, did anything happen? Well, the AP appears to have found the AWOL voter who had gone "over-the-hill" in week 8, and that voter appears to have voted for Oregon St. as the #1 team. Other than the reinsertion of the missing voter's points into the line-up, it was steady as she goes with this week's poll. Oregon State picked up the 25 points of another 1st place ballot. UConn added 24 points, likely picking up a second place. Oregon and South Carolina picked up 23 points each. Not clear cut what happened but the new ballot obviously accounted for just about all of it. Stanford picked up 20 points. I guess the missing ballot had them as #6 rather than #5.
So again, did anything happen? Well, there's the 5 minutes of your life you'll never get back. Also, I learned that, like the rest of us, the media doesn't care what the media thinks.

 

[BroadwayVa]

This week, ESPN ran an article asking whether UConn deserved its #1 ranking. The contributors seemed to promote the idea that Oregon State was more deserving. There's a thread around here somewhere discussing that article but I don't care about that. What I was curious about was did that argument sway any of the press pundits, i.e., those voting in the AP Poll to modify their votes. Naturally, there are a variety of reasons one might change a vote so a point or two difference on way or the other could rationally be attributed to caprice. However, absent some compelling event(s) -- a bad loss or signature win -- a "large" swing, especially in Oregon State's favor and/or UConn's disfavor might be arguably attributed to press influence. So what happened?

In today's poll (week 9), the top 5 are:

	​
Team	1st Place	Points
UConn	19	722
Oregon	5	703
Oregon State	5	680
South Carolina	1	661
Stanford	0	622

In week 8, the top 5 were:

	​
Team	1st Place	Points
UConn	19	698
Oregon	5	680
Oregon State	4	654
South Carolina	1	638
Stanford	0	602

So, did anything happen? Well, the AP appears to have found the AWOL voter who had gone "over-the-hill" in week 8, and that voter appears to have voted for Oregon St. as the #1 team. Other than the reinsertion of the missing voter's points into the line-up, it was steady as she goes with this week's poll. Oregon State picked up the 25 points of another 1st place ballot. UConn added 24 points, likely picking up a second place. Oregon and South Carolina picked up 23 points each. Not clear cut what happened but the new ballot obviously accounted for just about all of it. Stanford picked up 20 points. I guess the missing ballot had them as #6 rather than #5.
So again, did anything happen? Well, there's the 5 minutes of your life you'll never get back. Also, I learned that, like the rest of us, the media doesn't care what the media thinks.

The answer to the top Question posed: Certainly one Media outlet tends to lead the way and then others, sometimes/often all will follow. It's easier than finding their own story. But too it tweeks minds to something they had not thought about. But follow they do. Watch the evening news on multiple channels you sometimes see the exact wording used.