Abstract
The historic upset of virtually all interpretations of public opinion polls in the Presidential election in November was perhaps the most striking journalistic event of 1948. The need for intensive self-examination and technical improvements became the order of business not only for poll takers but for the whole structure of market research which had been built upon them. The fact that for the fifth consecutive Presidential election the American press had supported the candidate rejected by the electorate was also a subject of considerable discussion by laymen and practitioners. Vastly shaken public confidence, as well as the rapid development of a powerful new competitor in the form of television, pointed to a need for major reforms in editorial methods and services of newspapers—an awareness of which was somewhat manifested in the growth of regional press institutes in several additional schools of journalism.—W. F. S.
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