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''Vox'' () is an American news and opinion website owned by
Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...
. The website was founded in April 2014 by
Ezra Klein Ezra Klein (born May 10, 1984) is an American journalist, political analyst, ''New York Times'' columnist, and the host of ''The Ezra Klein Show'' podcast. He is a co-founder of '' Vox'' and formerly served as the website's editor-at-large. He h ...
,
Matt Yglesias Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...
, and Melissa Bell, and is noted for its concept of
explanatory journalism Explanatory journalism or explanatory reporting is a form of reporting that attempts to present ongoing news stories in a more accessible manner by providing greater context than would be presented in traditional news sources. The term is often a ...
. Vox's media presence also includes a YouTube channel, several podcasts, and a show presented on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
. ''Vox'' has been described as left-of-center and progressive.


History

Prior to founding ''Vox'',
Ezra Klein Ezra Klein (born May 10, 1984) is an American journalist, political analyst, ''New York Times'' columnist, and the host of ''The Ezra Klein Show'' podcast. He is a co-founder of '' Vox'' and formerly served as the website's editor-at-large. He h ...
worked for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' as the head of
Wonkblog Wonkblog was a blog, hosted by the ''Washington Post'', that was dedicated to domestic policy, economics and politics. It was started by Ezra Klein, originally as a solo venture, but, by February 2013, had grown to employ a staff of five people. T ...
, a
public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...
blog. When Klein attempted to launch a new site using funding from the newspaper's editors, his proposal was turned down and Klein subsequently left ''The Washington Post'' for a position with
Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...
, another communications company, in January 2014. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' David Carr associated Klein's exit for ''Vox'' with other "big-name journalists" leaving newspapers for digital start-ups, such as Walter Mossberg and Kara Swisher (of '' Recode'', which was later acquired by and integrated into Vox),
David Pogue David Welch Pogue (born March 9, 1963) is an American technology and science writer and TV presenter. He is an Emmy-winning correspondent for ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' and author of the "Crowdwise" column in ''The New York Times'' Smarter Livi ...
, and
Nate Silver Nathaniel Read Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, writer, and poker player who analyzes baseball (see sabermetrics), basketball, and elections (see psephology). He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ''FiveThirtyEigh ...
. He described Vox Media as "a technology company that produces media" rather than its inverse, associated with "Old Media". From his new position, Klein worked towards establishing ''Vox'', including hiring new journalists for the site. Klein expected to "improve the technology of news" and build an online platform better equipped for making news understandable. The new site's 20-person staff was chosen for their expertise in topic areas and included '' Slate''
Matthew Yglesias Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is a liberal American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as ''The American Prospect'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''Sla ...
, Melissa Bell, and Klein's colleagues from ''The Washington Post''. ''Vox'' was launched on April 6, 2014, with Klein serving as editor-in-chief. Klein's opening editorial essay, "How politics makes us stupid", explained his distress about political polarization in the context of
Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...
professor
Dan Kahan Dan M. Kahan is the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law at Yale Law School. His professional expertise is in the fields of criminal law and evidence, and he is known for his theory of cultural cognition. Education After attending a boarding ...
's theories on how people protect themselves from information that conflicts with their core beliefs. In June 2016, ''Vox'' suspended contributor Emmett Rensin for a series of tweets calling for anti-Trump riots, including one on June 3, 2016, that urged, "If Trump comes to your town, start a riot." The tweets drew attention after violent anti-Trump protests took place in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
, on the day of Rensin's tweet. Elizabeth Plank was hired in 2016 as a political correspondent, and in 2017 launched her own series with Vox Media, called ''Divided States of Women''. In September 2017, Klein published a post on ''Vox'' announcing that he was taking on a new role as editor-at-large, and that Lauren Williams, who joined ''Vox'' a few months after its founding, was the new editor-in-chief. In late 2020, Klein, Williams, and Yglesias left the site. While ''Vox'' had been founded with prominent journalists, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff said that their brands had mature, mainstream audiences that no longer relied on personalities. Swati Sharma was named editor-in-chief in February 2021. A managing editor of ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' at the time of her appointment, she was expected to assume the position in March 2021.


Content

According to ''Vox'' founding editors, the site seeks to explain news by providing additional contextual information not usually found in traditional news sources. To reuse work from authors prior to the relaunch in 2014, ''Vox'' creates "card stacks" in bright canary yellow that provide context and define terms within an article. The cards are perpetually maintained as a form of "wiki page written by one person with a little attitude". As an example, a card about the term "insurance exchange" may be reused on stories about the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
. ''Vox'' uses Vox Media's Chorus content management system, which enables journalists to easily create articles with complex visual effects and transitions, such as photos that change as the reader scrolls. Vox Media's properties target educated households with six-figure incomes and a head of house less than 35 years old. ''Vox'''s ''Future Perfect'', a reporting project that examines the world through
philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
and effective altruism, is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.


Video

''Vox'' has a YouTube channel by the same name where they have regularly posted videos on news and informational subjects since 2014. These videos are accompanied by an article on their website. The themes covered in the videos are usually similar to the themes covered in the regular, written articles on the website. The channel has over 10 million subscribers and over 2.6 billion views . Content surrounds current affairs, timeline of certain events, and interesting facts. In May 2018, ''Vox'' partnered with
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
to release a weekly TV show called '' Explained''.


Podcasts

''Vox'' distributes numerous podcasts, all hosted by ''Vox'' staff, as part of the ''
Vox Media Podcast Network Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass '' SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...
'': * ''The Weeds'' is a twice-weekly roundtable podcast, hosted by Yglesias and immigration correspondent Dara Lind, focusing on U.S. national news with a focus on the fine details of public policy. Senior politics reporter Jane Coaston was a regular co-host before joining the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. * ''The Gray Area with Sean Illing'' (formerly the "Vox Conversations" podcast) is a weekly interview podcast in which Sean Illing and other hosts across the Vox newsroom interview guests in politics, media, science, and culture. * ''I Think You're Interesting'' is a weekly interview podcast about the arts, entertainment, and pop culture, hosted by ''Vox''s "critic at large" Emily St. James. * ''Worldly'' (2017–21) was a weekly roundtable podcast focusing on U.S. foreign policy and international affairs, hosted by ''Vox'' foreign-and-security-policy writers Jennifer Williams, Zach Beauchamp, and Alex Ward;
Yochi Dreazen Yochi J. Dreazen (born ) is an American journalist whose area of expertise is military affairs and national security. , he is the deputy managing editor and foreign editor of Vox and the author of a book, ''The Invisible Front: Love and Loss in an ...
also previously hosted. * ''The Impact'' is a weekly narrative podcast hosted by Kliff investigating the effects of policy decisions in practice. * ''Today, Explained'' is a daily podcast, hosted by Sean Ramaswaram and Noel King, providing short explanations of items in the news. * ''Future Perfect'' is a weekly podcast, hosted by
Dylan Matthews Dylan Matthews is an American journalist. He is currently a correspondent for ''Vox (website), Vox'', an online media venture. Professional life Early writing In 2004, at the age of 14, Matthews launched a personal blog on politics and other is ...
, exploring provocative ideas with the potential to radically improve the world, often discussing ideas associated with effective altruism. * ''Primetime'' is a short-run podcast hosted by Emily St. James. Season 1 (six episodes) focused on TV's relationship with the presidency and was released on a weekly schedule. *''Unexplainable'' is a weekly science podcast hosted by Noam Hassenfeld and a panel of experts exploring unanswered questions and the ways scientists are trying to answer them. *''Land of the Giants'' is a weekly podcast hosted by Shirin Ghaffary and Alex Kantrowitz where each season covers a tech giant like
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
,
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
,
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...
,
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
, and
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
and their dominance in their respective technology sector. *''Vox Quick Hits'' was a daily podcast consisting of short episodes covering topics in news, politics, and pop culture. Vox Quick Hits ended on September 10, 2021.


Reception

In March 2014, before it had officially launched, ''Vox'' was criticized by
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
media commentators, including
Erick Erickson Erick Woods Erickson (born June 3, 1975) is a conservative American radio host and blogger. He hosts a three-hour weekday talk show on WSB 95.5 FM and 750 AM in Atlanta, which is syndicated to other radio stations around the U.S. He also write ...
, for a video it had published arguing the U.S. public debt "isn't a problem right now". The website's launch received significant media attention. Websites noted that the launch came around the same time as other data and explainer websites like ''
FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', sometimes rendered as ''538'', is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in th ...
'' and the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
The Upshot ''The Upshot'' is a website published by ''The New York Times'' which spreads articles combining data visualization with conventional journalistic analysis of news. History ''The Upshot'' was first announced in March 2014 and was officially launc ...
. ''Vox'' was described as trying to act as a "
Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
for ongoing news stories". Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry at ''
The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's ed ...
'' argued that the website produced "partisan commentary in question-and-answer disguise" and criticized the site for having a "starting lineup
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
was mostly made up of ideological liberals". ''
The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's ed ...
''s Ryu Spaeth described the site's operations as "...essentially tak ngthe news (in other words, what is happening in the world at any given moment in time) and fram ngit in a way that appeals to its young, liberal audience." ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'', commenting on Klein's launching essay "How politics makes us stupid", said the website was "bright and promising" and site's premise of "more, better, and more lucidly presented information" was "profoundly honourable", and positively compared the site's mission to John Keats's
negative capability Negative capability is a phrase first used by Romantic poet John Keats in 1817 to explain the capacity of the greatest writers (particularly Shakespeare) to pursue a vision of artistic beauty even when it leads them into intellectual confusion a ...
. In an opinion piece in ''
The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'', Christopher J. Harper criticized the site for numerous reporting mistakes. In November 2022, it was reported by ''
Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
'' magazine that
Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 6, 1992), also known by the initialism SBF, is an American suspected fraudster, entrepreneur, investor, and former billionaire. Bankman-Fried was the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX ...
—founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX—had issued major grants to a number of predominantly
left-leaning Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
political media outlets including ''Vox''.


Accolades

In 2015, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry presented
Julia Belluz Julia Belluz is a Canadian journalist who specializes in health and science reporting. She is the senior health correspondent for American news website '' Vox'', as of August 2020. Belluz is known for her reporting on various public health issu ...
the Robert B. Balles Prize for Critical Thinking for her work on ''Vox''. Original programming by ''Vox'' has been recognized by the
News & Documentary Emmy Award The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...
s, which are presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2017, the documentary ''2016 Olympics: What Rio Doesn't Want the World to See'' was nominated in the "Outstanding News Special" category, ''Vox Pop'' was nominated in the "Outstanding Arts, Culture and Entertainment Report" and "Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction" categories, and ''The Secret Life of Muslims'' was nominated in the "Outstanding Short Documentary" category. In 2018, ''Borders'' was nominated in the "Outstanding Video Journalism: News" category, and ''Earworm'' received nominations in the "Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction" and "Outstanding New Approaches: Arts, Lifestyle and Culture" categories.


Readership

''Vox'' received 8.2 million unique visitors in July 2014. In October 2021, readership was estimated to be 19.7 million visitors. In a 2017 interview on
Nieman Lab The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University is the primary journalism institution at Harvard. It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ...
, Klein stated: "We watch our audience data pretty closely, and our audience data does not show or suggest to us that we are overwhelmingly read on one side or the other of the political sphere, which is good.


See also

* * * *
Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...


References


External links

* {{Vox Media 2014 establishments in the United States American news websites Internet properties established in 2014 Progressivism in the United States Vox Media