Leftwing election pollster Nate Silver famously couldn’t predict that Donald Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2020 election, giving her 72% odds to beat the upstart entertainer-turned-politician who shocked the world.
Now, it turns out he is the latest notable pundit to get axed in the latest round of ABC/Disney layoffs.
“The second round of Disney layoffs hit ABC News on Tuesday, with Nate Silver’s data-driven politics and journalism brand FiveThirtyEight among those being impacted,” said The Hollywood Reporter. “ABC News is expected to keep the FiveThirtyEight brand name, with plans to streamline the site and make it more efficient.”
“ABC News remains dedicated to data journalism with a core focus on politics, the economy and enterprise reporting — this streamlined structure will allow us to be more closely aligned with our priorities for the 2024 election and beyond,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement. “We are grateful for the invaluable contributions of the team members who will be departing the organization and know they will continue to make an important impact on the future of journalism.”
In his Slack message, Silver wrote that “unfortunately the day we’ve been worrying about has arrived.”
“We don’t yet know the scope of these layoffs, exactly who is impacted, or the terms under which they are departing, but it is going to be a hard day for all of us,” he added.
After news broke of Silver’s exit, the tweeted about his ABC News tenure and the layoffs.
“I had been worried about an outcome like this and so have had some great initial conversations about opportunities elsewhere,” he explained. “Don’t hesitate to get in touch. I am so proud of the work of FiveThirtyEight staff. It has never been easy. I’m so sorry to the people impacted by this.”
Silver’s layoff follows in the wake of major news media shakeups in the last two weeks. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell resigned after confessing to an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with a staff member, and CNN’s Don Lemon was fired after a tumultuous career at the network that included allegations of inappropriate behavior. Meanwhile, Fox News saw the departures of top talent Tucker Carlson and Dan Bongino, as well as “Tucker Carlson Tonight” executive producer Justin Wells.
It’s been a bloodbath for the news media the past few weeks. And the word on the streets is that it is only going to get worse for those still in corporate media.
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OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion.