Employee of the Month

NATE SILVER on his own confirmation bias, Trump vs. Rubio, VOX vs. 538, and New York Times vs. ESPN

11.06.2015 - By Slate PodcastsPlay

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NATE SILVER may be best known as political pollster, but he describes himself as "well rounded" and talks about the perils of having, what I call, a halo effect. In our interview for Employee of the Month, which was taped live at Joe’s Pub in New York, we spoke the day before Halloween on everything from how he deals with his own confirmation basis to how 538 differs from Ezra Klein's Vox Media, and why Silver feels more free to do what he wants as a journalist at a gigantic corporation, i.e. Walt Disney, which owns ESPN, versus his prior employer, The New York Times, which is arguably one of the most respected institution for journalism. Since I had previously interviewed Jill Abramson, the former Editor-in-Chief of The New York Times, about her negotiations with Nate Silver, I wanted to get his perspective. Silver says he didn’t just leave for more money. We, of course, dig into what to expect in the upcoming Presidential elections and Nate proves that he, as he says, “knows his shit” when it comes to...

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