ABC is eliminating the data-driven political site 538, which has proven a key tool for political watchers and writers over the years through the use of election forecasting and data journalism, because of cutbacks being made in its networks.
The cuts are part of a 6% staffing cut the network is making across ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks, reports The Wall Street Journal. About 15 employees for the site, founded by pollster Nate Silver in 2008, will be affected by the closure.
The site was last updated at 11:56 p.m. Tuesday.
The cuts also involve other ABC News offerings. The magazine shows "20/20" and "Nightline" will be consolidated into one unit, and all three hours of shows branded as "Good Morning America" are being consolidated under one production team.
The Disney Entertainment Networks unit, which houses cable channels like Freeform and FX, will also see staffing reductions in scheduling and program planning.
ABC laid off most of the onetime FiveThirtyEight staff two years ago, rebranding it as "538" at that time.
"This is such a catastrophic loss not only for election journalism but also as an election data resource — [I] can't even count the number of times I've relied on 538's polling averages, redistricting trackers, etc. for my reporting," Grace Panetta, a politics reporter for The 19th, posted on X.
And Silver, who left the site in 2023, wrote on X that his "heart goes out to the people there. They were tremendously hardworking and produced a lot of extremely valuable data and insight for everyone who wants to understand politics better. They deserved much better."
CNN's Brian Stelter, reporting on the shutdown, asked where the data collected over the years will go and if the charts and tools will stay online. However, he said ABC News did not respond to his questions.
A source, though, confirmed that although 538 is "winding down," ABC News "will continue to provide best-in-class polling and political data analysis that it has offered for decades."
G. Elliott Morris, 538's current leader, appeared to be still working after midnight Wednesday.
He reported overnight that "we added some new polls late this evening. Trump's job approval rating average at 538 is now net negative. What timing."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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