SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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.
[...] 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.
[...] 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.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Username on Wednesday March 12, @03:13PM (1 child)
Was the largest employer of journalists. With the passing of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012, that "aid" aka propaganda was made legal for us citizen consumption. That means the media in the US could apply for usaid, and get it long as they fulfilled thier obligation, parroting the talking points the unelected people in usaid wanted.
I assume it being gutted, has most media rebalancing their accounting to do without it.
(Score: 3, Redundant) by HeadlineEditor on Wednesday March 12, @03:25PM
Your point is completely valid. But do we know that 538 was getting USAID funds? I know there is a list floating around out there of recipients but I can't find it offhand.