Casselman, chief economics writer, leaving WSJ

Ben Casselman, the lead economics reporter at The Wall Street Journal, is leaving the business newspaper to join Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com as chief economics writer.

At the Journal, Casselman covered energy, real estate and most recently served as a lead economics reporter. Casselman was part of a team of Journal reporters whose work on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, including statistical analysis on oil-rig accidents, won a Gerald Loeb Award and was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting.

“Ben’s exceptional career at The Wall Street Journal demonstrates that dogged and tenacious reporting is not the enemy of data-driven journalism,” said Silver in a statement. “By contrast, they have much the same method. It’s a matter of asking great questions, and being willing to dig under the surface of the problem to provide clarity to a wider audience amid the massive amount of data and information in the world today.”

At FiveThirtyEight, Casselman will perform original analysis of publicly available economic data, such as monthly reports on inflation and unemployment, to uncover trends not currently explored in mainstream coverage. Casselman will contribute a mix of news analysis, in-depth features and enterprise-level projects.

“We think there’s a huge need in the market for this,” said Silver. “When the jobs report comes out every month, coverage focuses either on what it means for investors or how it might affect an election campaign. There’s not enough emphasis on what it means for everyday American families and businesses. Nor is there enough appreciation for how noisy the numbers can be, and how any data point needs to be placed into a broader economic context.”