Foxy Nate Silver and why old-media hedgehogs could soon be old news
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 7:32 am
Silver also poses a problem to the pundit class. If Silver’s method proves more accurate than their soapbox prognostications, perhaps the public will decide it’s no longer interested in what they have to say. The big polling companies – Gallup, Rasmussen, Pharos – would feel threatened, too, because Silver’s model reveals and contextualizes the shortcomings of their individual efforts, even as he relies on them for data aggregation.
These are well-founded fears. Silver is a disrupter. His methodology and communicative approach challenge the established ways of the pollsters and the pundits. His scientific approach and technological tools pay little heed to the prevailing media narratives of the day. He threatens to set in motion a movement in which hacks and hucksters should no longer expect to be given a platform based on their perfect hair or ability to speak to camera. When it comes to polling and punditry, the gut is out and science is in.
http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/02/foxy-n ... -old-news/
These are well-founded fears. Silver is a disrupter. His methodology and communicative approach challenge the established ways of the pollsters and the pundits. His scientific approach and technological tools pay little heed to the prevailing media narratives of the day. He threatens to set in motion a movement in which hacks and hucksters should no longer expect to be given a platform based on their perfect hair or ability to speak to camera. When it comes to polling and punditry, the gut is out and science is in.
http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/02/foxy-n ... -old-news/