Vox (website)

== History ==
Prior to founding ''Vox'', [[Ezra Klein]] worked for ''[[The Washington Post]]'' as the head of [[Wonkblog]], a [[public policy]] blog.<ref name="usatoday">{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/04/07/klein-launches-vox/7420053/ |title=Ezra Klein launches news site Vox.com |date=April 7, 2014 |first=Roger |last=Yu |work=USA Today |access-date=July 26, 2018}}</ref> 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]], another communications company, in January 2014.<ref name="usatoday" /><ref name="NYT: joining Vox">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/business/media/ezra-klein-joining-vox-media-as-web-journalism-asserts-itself.html |access-date=December 26, 2014 |title=Ezra Klein Is Joining Vox Media as Web Journalism Asserts Itself |last1=Carr |first1=David |author-link=David Carr (journalist) |date=January 26, 2014 |website=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216173600/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/business/media/ezra-klein-joining-vox-media-as-web-journalism-asserts-itself.html?_r=0 |archive-date=February 16, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]''{{'}} [[David Carr (journalist)|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]], and [[Nate Silver]].<ref name="NYT: joining Vox" /> He described Vox Media as "a technology company that produces media" rather than its inverse, associated with "Old Media".<ref name="NYT: joining Vox" /> From his new position, Klein worked towards establishing ''Vox'', including hiring new journalists for the site.<ref name="usatoday" /> Klein expected to "improve the technology of news" and build an online platform better equipped for making news understandable.<ref name="NYT: joining Vox" /> The new site's 20-person staff was chosen for their expertise in topic areas and included ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]''{{'s}} [[Matthew Yglesias]], [[Melissa Bell (journalist)|Melissa Bell]], and Klein's colleagues from ''The Washington Post''.<ref name="NYT: joining Vox" /><ref>[https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/voxcom_is_going_to_be_a_great_test_ezra_klein_critique_journalism.php Vox.com is going to be a great test of Ezra Klein's critique of journalism], ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'' (April 7, 2014).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/26/5348212/ezra-klein-vox-is-our-next|title=Vox is our next|first=Ezra|last=Klein|date=January 26, 2014|website=The Verge}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/pages/about-us|title=About us|author=Vox Staff|date=April 3, 2017|website=Vox}}</ref> ''Vox'' was launched on April 6, 2014, with Klein serving as editor-in-chief.<ref name="usatoday" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2014/04/understanding-the-newly-launched-voxcom.html |title=Understanding Ezra Klein's Newly Launched Vox.com |last=Hartmann |first=Margaret |work=New York Media LLC Money|access-date=January 21, 2018}}</ref>

Klein's opening [[editorial]] essay, "How politics makes us stupid", explained his distress about political polarization in the context of [[Yale Law School]] professor [[Dan Kahan]]'s theories on how people protect themselves from information that conflicts with their core beliefs.<ref name="Klein-Politics"/><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/04/journalism-and-democracy |title=Ezra Klein's strangled Vox |date=April 11, 2014 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613|access-date=November 4, 2016}}</ref>

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 [[Protests of the Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016|anti-Trump protests]] took place in [[San Jose, California]], on the day of Rensin's tweet.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://money.cnn.com/2016/06/03/media/vox-editor-suspended-trump-riots/index.html |title=Vox suspends editor for encouraging riots at Donald Trump rallies |date=June 3, 2016 |publisher=CNN |last1=Byers |first1=Dylan|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trailguide-vox-suspends-editor-1464984232-htmlstory.html |title=Vox suspends editor who called for anti-Trump riots |date=June 3, 2016 |work=Los Angeles Times |last1=Halper |first1=Evan|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/emmettrensin/status/738583628855156742 |title=Advice: If Trump comes to your town, start a riot |date=June 2, 2016 |type=[[Twitter]] post|access-date=June 2, 2016 |author=Emmett Rensin [emmettrensin]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/06/03/what-will-a-suspension-do-for-a-vox-editor-who-urged-anti-trump-riots/ |title=What will a suspension do for a Vox editor who urged anti-Trump riots? |date=June 3, 2016 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |last1=Wemple |first1=Eric|access-date=June 5, 2016}}</ref> [[Elizabeth Plank]] was hired in 2016 as a political correspondent,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/vox-snags-mics-elizabeth-plank-871624 |title=Vox Snags Mic's Elizabeth Plank for Election Coverage |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=March 1, 2016 |access-date=June 24, 2017}}</ref> and in 2017 launched her own series with Vox Media, called ''Divided States of Women''.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/vox-media-launching-video-series-focused-women-1046001 |title=Vox Media Launching New Video Series Focused on Women |first=Jeremy |last=Barr |date=October 5, 2017 |journal=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=July 26, 2018}}</ref>

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 (journalist)|Lauren Williams]], who joined ''Vox'' a few months after its founding, was the new editor-in-chief.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://money.cnn.com/2017/09/26/media/ezra-klein-vox-lauren-williams/index.html |title=Lauren Williams named editor in chief of Vox; Ezra Klein to be editor at large |last=Stelter |first=Brian |work=CNN Money|access-date=September 29, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/2017/9/26/16363796/lauren-williams-allison-rockey-ezra-klein-vox-editor |title=Lauren Williams is the new editor-in-chief of Vox |last=Klein |first=Ezra |work=Vox Media, Inc |access-date=January 21, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Edmund |title=Ezra Klein Leaves Vox for The New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2020-11-20 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/business/media/ezra-klein-leave-vox.html |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

[[Swati Sharma (journalist)|Swati Sharma]] was named editor-in-chief in February 2021. A managing editor of ''[[The Atlantic]]'' at the time of her appointment, she was expected to assume the position in March 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Tracy|first=Marc|date=2021-02-16|title=Vox Finds Its Next Top Editor at The Atlantic|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/business/media/vox-editor-swati-sharma.html|access-date=2021-03-26|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>