The election may have an outcome, but we still have questions…in this week’s News Biz Quiz.
1. Arrange these news networks by the order in which they (FINALLY!) called the 2020 presidential election on Saturday, Nov. 7:
NBC
CBS
ABC
CNN
Fox News
2. Perhaps the first reputable source (of any kind) to call the election was Decision Desk HQ, led by Brandon Finnigan. Which of these was Finnigan’s profession when he started the election forecasting operation?
a. Postal carrier
b. Swimming pool maintenance
c. Wendy’s drive-thru cashier
d. Trucking company dispatcher
3. What New York Times reporter, whose run on the “Trump beat” is coming to an end, has filed the most bylines of anyone at the paper in the past year (599 of them in 2016)?
4. What bespectacled MSNBC analyst, who tirelessly operated a telestrator-like election viewscreen for several days last week, became the subject of many memes and earned such loving titles as “map daddy” and “chartthrob” in the process?
5. Saturday Night Live’s Alex Moffat appeared to have his fingers ground down to nubs (as a result of days of clicking through the network’s on-air maps) playing what CNN counterpart to the person asked about in question four?
6. What three-word phrase from President-elect Joe Biden’s Saturday night speech to the nation showed up in many Sunday front page headlines, including those of the Denver Post, Arizona Republic and Seattle Times?
Scrolls down for answers.
ANSWERS….
1. In order: CNN (11:24 a.m. ET), NBC, CBS, ABC, AP, Fox (11:40 a.m. ET)
2. Trucking company dispatcher
3. Maggie Haberman
4. Steve Kornacki
5. John King
6. “Time to heal”
Stan Jastrzebski has competed in trivia competitions in 14 states (and Washington, D.C.), including appearances on “Jeopardy!” and “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.” He’s won more than 40 state, regional and national journalism awards and has spent more than a dozen years leading NPR member station newsrooms. He lives in Lafayette, IN with his wife and daughter.
