I have to admit that I haven’t read much of Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight although I know a lot of folks rave about him. I just don’t have a lot of time to reach much of anything, actually. However, I’ve always been intrigued by data, as well as data people, and how they see things; I’ve loved most of my intricate and data oriented stories (and have even won a couple of awards using data). Despite what people say, there are no facts when it comes to data; yes, the numbers are what they are … but there are actually all kinds of way of looking at them – and different ways of reacting to them, too.

Having been one of a handful of people who predicted before he decided to run for president and consistently during the campaign that, yeah, don’t believe the numbers, Donald Trump is going to win the presidency by a sliver, I never believed any of the data people or the pundits, including Silver, who pretty much predicted that Hillary Clinton would win. There was too much fragility and anger out there to think it was ever going to be a cakewalk for HRC. It was delusional, actually. And, no, I don’t think I was just wishing, if you will; I’ve been talking and writing about working class issues, taxes, and trade, for a very long time. It was only a matter of time before the rabble decided to say, Enough. In the case of 2016, it was Trump and mostly because he was running against the most despised Democrat in the history of the party, at least in the modern era. What do you have to lose?

But the media had a huge role in molding and shaping the campaign — from outright collusion, to inanity and insanity — it was all there. Silver’s piece here — “There Really Was A Liberal Media Bubble” — is simply a must read. It is so good that I’m going to read the other parts of the series.

I don’t know what the solutions are to some of his conclusions, like, how do media outlets diversify newsrooms? People can’t force other people to do jobs they may or may not want. Journalism has changed many times over; I’m part of the old school folks who learned the craft by rote and didn’t go to college, something that is rare today. Today, it’s a white, upper middle-class job (at least that has been my experience, shifting through both broadcasting, newspaper, and online news resumes now for 15 years or so). At the same time, mentors and professors can and should be hammering into the heads of future journalists that they have to suffocate their personal biases. They don’t have a choice; it’s part of the job. Which is why journalism is work. LOL Anywho, read this. It’s worth your time.