Fake Karen Bass poll fools L.A. TV stations Play

You may be hearing about a fake poll down in Los Angeles, where a voters poll supposedly showed significant support for mayoral candidate Karen Bass.

Karen Bass may or may not have that support, but the poll was a fake.

Fake polls are making news everywhere reporters fail to check press releases. In Santa Monica, a poll was released several months ago showing support to keep airplanes flying out of Santa Monica Airport. That poll was conducted by a PR company that has been working to keep the airport open past its planned closure date of 2028. Its methodology and margin of error were never disclosed.

That's similar to what happened last weekend, when some outfit put out an official-looking notice that its survey showed Karen Bass 18 points ahead of Nithya Raman in the mayor's race.

News agencies large and small pretty much ignored the poll. The L.A. Times did not touch it. KBUU radio did not air it.

But L.A. TV stations swallowed the fake poll, as did the California Post, and they ran stories about its findings.

Monday, the outfit that put the poll out confessed that it was a hoax, or what they called a “social experience.” That confession only came when L.A. Times reporters asked how the poll was taken.