Why journalists shouldn't take the polls too seriously

I blogged yeterday about the rsults from New Hampshire and how some papers were more prudent than others over the Democratic opinion polls.

Live science carries a post which attempts to explian why Why Presidential Polls Are Wrong

Blame bad timing and bad media practices for the surprise in the New Hampshire primary on the Democratic side, two political watchers say

For journalists a particular warning from Shawn Parry-Giles, a political communications professor at the University of Maryland

The media should stop treating polls as if they are factual information

and continues

"

Media aren't going to be self-reflexive about their poll," Parry-Giles said. "The journalists themselves just bought into the fact that [Obama] was so far ahead and it was inevitable. I was stunned by the coverage."