It'd dead!
https://abcnews.go.com/538

https://www.theguardian.com/us...c-news-538-shut-down

Political poll news site 538 to close amid larger shuttering across ABC and Disney
Disney is reportedly cutting staff across ABC News Group and its entertainment network as media layoffs continue

2 min. readView original
The popular political poll news and analysis website, 538, is being shut down as part of a broader shuttering effort across ABC News and Disney Entertainment, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday night.

Disney is reportedly cutting 200 positions across ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks, including shutting down the data-driven 538.

The ABC news magazine shows 20/20 and Nightline are to be consolidated into one program, resulting in further job cuts, sources told the Journal. The closing of 538 means an additional 15 employees will be let go.

Other changes include all three hours of Good Morning America branded shows being combined into a single production team, and Disney Entertainment Networks unit, which hosts broadcast networks and cable channels such as Freeform and FX, will see staffing reductions in program scheduling and planning.

A source told the Journal that the layoffs represent just under 6% of the combined staff at ABC News and Disney Entertainment and will be announced to employees as early as Wednesday.

FiveThirtyEight, which is named after the number of electors in the US electoral college, has become a popular website for predictions, analysis and watching the polls in the months and days leading up to election night.

But the website’s workforce had been slowly dwindling for a couple of years. The 15 employees still with the outlet make up less than half of the team from 2023, when it had about 35 employees.

The decline began when 538’s founder, Nate Silver, left the company two years ago when his Disney contract expired.

In a post on X, Silver expressed his disappointment with the website closing down, writing: “My heart goes out to the people there. They were tremendously hard-working and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better.”

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Maggie Koerth, a science journalist formerly with 538, expressed similar sentiments in a Bluesky post. “FiveThirtyEight was such a wonderful place to work, filled with some of the most supportive, creative, and thoughtful coworkers a person could ask for,” she wrote.

“Most of us were laid off in 2023, but the remaining staff deserved (and deserve) better,” she added.

The broader media landscape has been hit with mass layoffs seemingly nonstop for months. Last month, MSNBC announced a massive shakeup at the network that included letting go of Joy Reid and her production team, as well as no longer using the Spanish-language network Telemundo.

Meaningless, until they axe The Puke.

I look forward to that day. Believe me!

I always personally called it "The Skew"

Tony.

Here is an example of the verbal diarrhea coming from POS Joyless Behar. Hence, The Puke. Bitch got schooled by one from her own side.

https://x.com/townhallcom/stat...s-mandate-stephen%2F

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Here is an example of the verbal diarrhea coming from POS Joyless Behar. Hence, The Puke. Bitch got schooled by one from her own side.

No clue what she said. Some kind of natural sanity filter just turned her yapping into blah, blah, blah. That gentleman though? That man must be shushed. The Dems should absolutely just keep doing what they’re doing. They definitely don’t need someone like him pointing out their stupidity.

That was great Q!

quote:

They definitely don’t need someone like him pointing out their stupidity.

Might be a stretch to presume they hear what he said and take it to heart.

If it's so popular, why is this the first time I've ever heard of it?

Never heard of it

538 was the leftist answer to realclearpolitics. The consumer chose the winner.

quote:

Originally posted by airsoft guy:
If it's so popular, why is this the first time I've ever heard of it?

You probably have but just don't remember it since it was associated with wunderkind pollster and founder Nate Silver in 2008 (predicting Obama's win) and beyond. If you followed the 2008 to 2012 elections, he (with his 538 backing him up) was the most quoted and arguably most accurate predictor. It moved from NYT to Disney at some point years ago and went downhill from there, missing on Trump in 2016. Silver left or was let go two or three years ago (along with some other staffers), the last time Disney tried to right the 538 ship but it doesn't look like that worked.

Incidentally, Silver worked independently of 538 in 2024 but I'm not sure if anyone paid him much attention then either.

quote:

Originally posted by StarTraveler:
....... missing on Trump in 2016........

Oh that was a big miss if one is to remain relevant in the "prediction" business.

Shortly before the election, 538 predicted that Hillary had an 88% chance of winning.

Hell, Palm Readers in Haight-Ashbury were more accurate in their predictions.

quote:

Originally posted by airsoft guy:
If it's so popular, why is this the first time I've ever heard of it?

That was the question in my mind when I read "popular."

LMAO, yet another thing Disney bought and then promptly ruined!

Seems to be the only thing they’re good at now

ESPN just gave a $100 million deal to Steven A., I'm sure that will cheer up the ABC news department.