Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight Are on ABC's Chopping Block - The Daily Beast

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Famed statistic guru Nate Silver and his website FiveThirtyEight are connected the “chopping block,” Confider has learned, arsenic ABC News looks to chopped costs.

A determination connected the aboriginal of the famed politics, economics, and sports investigation website is acceptable to beryllium made by the summertime erstwhile Silver’s declaration is up, aggregate radical with cognition of the concern told us.

The oft-combative Silver, who has travel nether renewed scrutiny for his site’s polling selections, present faces an uncertain aboriginal arsenic quality part brag Kim Godwin reviews the publication, which has ne'er turned a profit.

FiveThirtyEight has not backfilled cardinal positions, including that of managing exertion (Micah Cohen exited past twelvemonth for information tract Stacker), authorities exertion (Sarah E. Frostenson defected to The Washington Post), and sports exertion (Sara Ziegler was poached by The New York Times).

Insiders lamented to Confider that ABC’s deficiency of enthusiasm successful gathering a subscription concern astir FiveThirtyEight has been a “missed opportunity” that could person turned the tract into a moneymaker for Disney.

But instead, ABC whitethorn look to offload the publication.

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This wouldn’t beryllium the archetypal clip a FiveThirtyEight acquisition has been discussed: In 2017, Silver held talks with some The Atlantic and The Athletic astir a sale, 2 radical acquainted with the concern told us.

Questions implicit FiveThirtyEight’s aboriginal travel arsenic Silver faces nationalist disapproval for his reliance connected polls that inaccurately predicted a “red wave” successful the midterm elections.

“There’s nary question successful my caput that FiveThirtyEight was utilized by partisan sources to make a mendacious content of the predetermination and that Nate was alert this was happening and by not addressing it helium ended up contributing to misleading the American radical astir what was happening successful the election,“ Democratic strategist and erstwhile ABC News shaper Simon Rosenberg told Confider. “This is an existential menace to FiveThirtyEight. If helium refuses to marque important reforms and changes the governmental elite should determination connected to different sources to get accusation astir polling.”

Silver did not respond to a petition for comment, but an ABC News spokesperson texted Confider: “There are nary imminent decisions astir our narration with 538.”

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