Hoping Instead of Reporting

I've been noticing in the last 24 hours instance after instance of people in the media who don't report the facts but rather report what they hope the facts will be.  It started last night when I happened upon an interview by Chris Hayes on MSNBC of an "expert" who explained that there is now a huge "progressive majority" in the USA due to rapid demographic shifts.  The expert explained that over 60% of Americans are now one of certain groups including minorities, millenials, and secularists, so that makes a progressive majority.  Stop there.  All minorities are progressives?  Since when?  Maybe someone better tell that to Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz who are three of the top four Republican candidates for president (and all minorities).  And millenials are all progressive?  Really?  I don't think so.  Nevertheless, when the "expert" said this on MSNBC, the host Chris Hayes adopted a serious pose and nodded knowingly.  They were reporting and discussing what they hoped was happening rather than the actual facts.  I wonder how they will handle it if Dr. Carson were to be the Republican nominee against Hillary Clinton and to carry a large portion of the African American vote or if Rubio were the nominee and he carried a large portion of the Hispanic vote.

Speaking of Rubio, he was the subject of another instance of reporting hopes instead of facts.  This morning I came across an article announcing that Rubio and Cruz are now atop the Republican field.  Another reported that Rubio is "soaring" in the polls.  Now Rubio has improved a bit since the last debate, but the reality is that all the polls show either Trump or Carson in the lead.  Those two are significantly ahead of all of the other candidates.  Rubio and Cruz are third and fourth.  Someone needs to tell these "reporters" that in American elections, only the person in first place wins.