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Tuesday, July 23, 2013 1:53:33 PM
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Jul 23 2013 @ 12:18pm
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/07/23/nyt-nate/
I’m not sure the role of public editor at the NYT includes the gossipy reporting of staff envy, [ http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/nate-silver-went-against-the-grain-for-some-at-the-times/ ] resentment and resistance to the emergence of an Internet star in their midst. But Margaret Sullivan sure delivered – and she, at least by her account, was a defender of the 538 blog on the NYT site.
Still, if you wondered how the old-guard of journalism really regards the upstarts of the web, it’s a revealing piece:
His entire probability-based way of looking at politics ran against the kind of political journalism that The Times specializes in: polling, the horse race, campaign coverage, analysis based on campaign-trail observation, and opinion writing, or “punditry,” as he put it, famously describing it as “fundamentally useless.” …
A number of traditional and well-respected Times journalists disliked his work. The first time I wrote about him I suggested that print readers should have the same access to his writing that online readers were getting. I was surprised to quickly hear by e-mail from three high-profile Times political journalists, criticizing him and his work. They were also tough on me for seeming to endorse what he wrote, since I was suggesting that it get more visibility…
The Times tried very hard to give him a lot of editorial help and a great platform. It bent over backward to do so, and this, too, disturbed some staff members. It was about to devote a significant number of staff positions to beefing up his presence into its own mini-department.
But fear was: fear that his analysis could render moot some of the horse-race journalism that the NYT still does and does well. It’s a misplaced fear. Campaigns are narratives driven by human beings – no statistical analysis could begin to describe them adequately. There’s no reason the two approaches cannot work together and inform each other. But the pretensions and defensiveness of the old media guard seem to have made that a tough compromise to settle on – to the detriment of NYT readers. And when the top brass actually started spending resources on the upstart, then jealousy took over. What usually happens, ahem, is that the lone blogger attached to a media company gets brought in for traffic, buzz, innovation, etc. and is then promptly ignored, or taken for granted, while the old guard tolerates him or her, and all the actual resources and investment go to the established institutional structure. Institutions tend not to like individuals who can dominate attention in a way others do not. It weakens their sense of control – something that remains in their minds even as it has largely evaporated from the media world.
Jill Abramson rightly, in my view, took a different tack, trying to build 538 into something bigger and worth investing in. But the knives in Nate’s back were too plentiful to remove – and ESPN clearly outbid them and had no bitter dead-enders carping about the newbie. Besides, ESPN had already proven its willingness to invest in one key blogger/writer, Bill Simmons, and create a whole site within a site around him. Marc Tracy listened [ http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113988/nate-silvers-new-site-espn-going-be-his-grantland# ] to an ESPN conference call on the news and talked to Silver directly about the Simmons model:
The calls were most useful for drawing out the shape and ambitions of Silver’s future site, whose model, as he and Skipper said many times, is Bill Simmons’ Grantland. “That Grantland precedent was as close as anything in media,” Silver said. It, too, will be editorially independent, and it will be similarly staffed, at least once FiveThirtyEight is fully staffed up post-relaunch ([ESPN president President John] Skipper pegged Grantland’s staff in “the low dozens”). It was clearly very important to Silver that he did not have to guess whether ESPN could build a Grantland-like site around him—that, instead, ESPN (and ESPN acting under the influence of Skipper) is what built Grantland.
Grantland is an important aspect to the story, since it provides the model for the new FiveThirtyEight. The site has been an unabashed success in the two years since it launched, so it’s no surprise ESPN wanted to duplicate it, and Silver’s site sounds like it will end up as Grantland with more numbers. Silver and Simmons are a lot alike, big names with devoted online followings who will bring traffic and readers and influence, and Silver repeatedly stressed the editorial independence ESPN has given Simmons as important to why he took the job. And while he guaranteed the new FiveThirtyEight would cover sports, politics, and economics, the rest is up in the air and dependent on who he hires, much like Grantland’s beats developed more through the voices that came aboard — think Wesley Morris’ movie reviews and cultural critiques or Jonah Keri’s baseball coverage — than through a specific plan to cover certain aspects of sports.
Did I mention how great it is to answer to no-one?
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/07/23/nyt-nate/
What I remember about Nate (gawd so many things, but 1st things 1st) .. DewDiligence on the 'simply politics' board told us about Nate. He said "He's the best! He's the best handicapper in sports .. etc.. etc.. . .and 'politics'" Of course, I had never heard of him ... (this was in hell maybe last half of 2007 somewhere ... and for my very first time I went over to 538 and met Nate Silver. Much I didn't understand ... but he was picking everything .. in sports .. everywhere ... AND he was following Obama and Hillary and Edwards ... etc.. etc........;) but that was not his main thing at least I didn't pick it up.. I picked up the sports thing .... ;) Of course, you all know Nate's story ... as time went on successes became bigger and bigger .... ;) .. until much to the heartache of all the members of his blog and all the readers of his blog ... He made a deal with the NYT ... to move 538 over there .... ..the word sell out did come to mind .. .BUT you could see from the immediate beginning .. that it was STILL NATE!!! ... ;) .........he hadn't gone anywhere just a new address ... ;) .......and the rest is history really .... Nate kept bringing in more and more readers to their site .. and many of 'prestigious' writers .. were outright freaked .. Let's face it ........The lay offs at the Times have HURT! ... not only the news but actual writers (people) too ... ! ..........so ... ;) .. Now Nate will go to ESPN... ;) ........I have an idea that NATE will do well wherever and whatever he does ...
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