Sometimes Merit Shines Through

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The New York Times just announced that it will host the great FiveThirtyEight blog on its website and make Nate Silver a regular contributor to the newspaper. It’s so gratifying, and rare, to see a break like that go to someone like Nate who actually deserves it. The evil MSM seems to pick up 50 Erick Ericksons for every one Nate Silver, unfortunately, but it’s nice to see one of the good guys win once in a while.

Congratulations, Nate!

5 thoughts on “Sometimes Merit Shines Through”

  1. Yeah, Nate!!!
    It almost makes me start to respect the NY Times again. I’m 52, so I remember the paper when it was the Great Grey Lady.
    The reporting has been, how do I put it politely? Shitty!!! And it was that way long before Judy Miller.
    I love Krugman, Rich, on the Op-ed, the editorials, and a few of the other reporters. Now, I can enjoy Nate there too. I can hardly wait until he tears Rasmussen’s polling a new @$$hole!
    Maybe moves like this save journalism. God know skewing right hasn’t worked. Maybe straight, or a little left, might help. Couldn’t hoit…

    • c u n d gulag — because of my work on About.com I’m technically a contractor for the New York Times Co., and every now and then the Times lets us About people into the New York Times building in Manhattan for seminars and such. So I have cast my eyes upon some of the upper-upper management in the Company, and they all strike me as clones of the pointy-hair boss in Dilbert. The Times website actually has done some innovative things, but I get the impression they were able to do that mostly because upper-upper management doesn’t get the Web and left the Web guys alone to do whatever they wanted.

      The editorial page has managed to pick up and retain some good columnists, but this is the same crew that hired William Kristol. So when they get someone good, it’s either accidental or else the Web guys were able to persuade the bean counters that Nate would bring in traffic.

  2. Nate is damn good and scrupulously honest with the numbers. I join in the chorus of congratulations.

  3. maha,
    There are still some great reporters there, for sure.
    As for the same crew that hired Kristol, they then replaced him with someone almost as insipid – Ross Douthat.
    Still, they’re not the WaPo. Talk about ‘suicide by stupid,’ yeesh…

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