Delivering the keynote address at this year's Online News Association conference in Atlanta, Nate Silver said the new fivethirtyeight.com will be free and will launch "very early next year."
"The idea is that it's a web product, first and foremost. I'm sure we'll build out podcasts and video coverage over time, but really the core challenge is in identifying writers and journalists who have the right critical thinking ability," Silver said.
"You can train people in methods, you can train people to some extent in writing technique and reporting skills, but do you have that critical thinking ability to look at the data sets and ask good questions?" he continued. "That's kind of what we love to do — provoke people with questions, not be flashy or listiclely, but have interesting topics each day that are handled in a smart way and, hopefully, inform people a little bit better."
The site, which Silver describes as "a partnership" with ESPN, is currently hiring politics, sports and economics writers.
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