Vox (website)

[[File:Vox.png|200px|right|thumb|Cursive letters on a yellow background. The yellow represents the act of highlighting important information, which is done often in their animations and explainations.]]{{media}}
{{cquote|We live in a world of too much information and too little context. Too much noise and too little insight. That's where Vox's explainers come in.|||Vox<ref name="explainers">[https://www.vox.com/explainers Explainers — Vox].</ref>}}

'''Vox''' is an [[United States|American]] news and opinion website founded in April 2014 by former ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' columnist Ezra Klein, former Slate columnist [[Matthew Yglesias]] and vice president of growth and analytics Melissa Bell, based on the concept of explanatory journalism.<ref name="explainers"/> In July 2014, Vox received 8.2 million unique visitors,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Weigel |first=David |date=August 23, 2014 |title=[http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/08/23/here_s_what_you_need_to_know_about_politico_s_coverage_of_vox_in_two_charts.html Here's What You Need to Know About Politico's Coverage of Vox, in Two Charts] |website=Slate}}</ref> and in August 2019 Vox's readership was estimated to be more than 33 million visitors.<ref>{{Cite web|title=[https://www.similarweb.com/website/vox.com vox.com Traffic Statistics]|website=SimilarWeb}}</ref> As of December 2024, the Vox youtube channel has over 12.4 million subscribers and over 3.6 billion views.<ref name="VoxYTabout">{{Cite web |title=[https://www.youtube.com/user/voxdotcom/abou Vox Channel About Page] |website=youtube.com|access-date=December 10, 2024}}</ref>

==Controversies==
In March 2014, before it had officially launched, ''Vox'' was criticized by conservative media commentators, including Erick Erickson, for a video<ref>{{cite news|title=[https://www.vox.com/2014/3/28/5559052/stop-freaking-out-about-the-debt Stop freaking out about the debt]|first=Matthew|last=Yglesias|date=March 28, 2014|publisher=Vox}}</ref> it had published arguing the public debt "isn't a problem right now".<ref>{{Cite news|title=[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/ezra-kleins-vox-is-already-being-labeled-left-wing-propaganda-by-conservatives/359709/ Ezra Klein's Vox Is Already Being Labeled 'Left-Wing Propaganda' by Conservatives]|last=Cosman |first=Ben |newspaper=The Atlantic}}</ref>

In June 2016, Vox suspended contributor Emmett Rensin for a series of tweets calling for anti-[[Trump]] riots, including one that said "If Trump comes to your town, start a riot."<ref>{{cite news |title=[http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/03/media/vox-editor-suspended-trump-riots/index.html 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>

In December 2018, ''Vox'' received criticism from fans of [[PewDiePie]] for an article written by Aja Romano<ref>{{cite news|title=[https://www.vox.com/2018/12/13/18136253/pewdiepie-vs-tseries-links-to-white-supremacist-alt-right-redpill YouTube’s most popular user amplified anti-Semitic rhetoric. Again]|first=Aja|last=Romano|date=December 13, 2018|publisher=Vox}}</ref> which alleged that PewDiePie had ties to the [[alt-right]] and [[white supremacism]],<ref name="heavy">{{cite news|title=[https://heavy.com/entertainment/2018/12/pewdiepie-wall-street-journal-vox/ PewDiePie, Wall Street Journal & Vox Feud Explained]|last=Dube Dwilson|first=Stephanie|date=December 17, 2018|work=Heavy.com|access-date=December 29, 2018}}</ref> and even went as far as including [[Laci Green]] among a list of "alt-right identified figures" — which she was not too happy about.<ref>[https://twitter.com/gogreen18/status/1073353992086859776 Laci Green on Twitter] archived https://archive.ph/gvYa0 "look, calling everyone 'alt right' strips all meaning from the term. im a liberal feminist who happens to like open dialogue. how sUpEr wOkE of vox to constantly lie about youtubers for clicks and views".</ref> Romano has said she had received harassment on [[Twitter]], while many of the fans urged PewDiePie to sue ''Vox''.<ref name="heavy"/>

==Sponsored content==
When ''Vox'' launched in 2014, the subscription + advertisement model of funding journalism had collapsed. Like many other news organizations, ''Vox'' takes grants from external organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation which want to see specific types of reporting. Someone who clicks on an article from ''Vox'' ''Future Perfect'' and reads an article about an [[Effective Altruism|Effective Altruist]] is unlikely to guess that [[Kelsey Piper|writers were recruited at an Effective Altruism event]], or that for years the column was funded by Effective Altruism organizations which the interviewees helped to fund or govern (a profile of patron Sam Bankman Fried was being written when his fraud collapsed and ''Future Perfect'' pivoted to investigating his crimes). While the conflict of interest is clear, ''Vox'' chose to accept the money and the supply of eager young writers and dutifully noted the funds (but not the social connections) on its website.

For example, an article on favourite EA topics [[Manifest|prediction markets]] and AI<ref>https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/411742/ai-forecasting-prediction-metaculus-llm</ref> notes that it was funded by an Effective Altruist colleague of Caroline Ellison and [[Sam Bankman-Fried]] but is editorially independent. That seems technically correct but disingenuous since the author told effective altruists "I identify as an EA (b) I donate to GiveWell and signed the GWWC pledge (c) many of my friends are EAs" and "I care a lot about persuading people of core EA ideas."<ref>https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/dylan-matthews-1 archived https://web.archive.org/web/20250225120555/https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/users/dylan-matthews-1</ref> A reporter who is a member of a movement, and is partially funded by that movement, would find it difficult to report critically or independently on that movement. The author's staff page does not mention membership in the Effective Altruism movement.<ref>https://www.vox.com/authors/dylan-matthews</ref>

==Reception==
*'''[[Media Bias/Fact Check]]''' labels ''Vox'' with a left bias and "Mostly Factual" reporting.<ref>[https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/vox/ Vox - Media Bias/Fact Check]</ref>
*'''AllSides''' rates ''Vox'' with a left bias.<ref>[https://www.allsides.com/news-source/vox-news-media-bias Vox Media Bias] | AllSides</ref>
*'''Ad Fontes Media''' rates ''Vox'' with a reliabilty score of 41.97 (out of 64, above 32 are good) and bias score of -8.75 (-42 to 42, negative scores being more left).<ref>[https://www.adfontesmedia.com/vox-bias-and-reliability/ Vox Bias and Reliability] | ad fontes media</ref>

==External links==
*[https://www.vox.com/ Vox]
*[https://www.voxmedia.com/ Vox Media], parent company
*[https://m.youtube.com/c/Vox YouTube channel]
*[https://medium.com/@collegehill/who-supports-future-perfect-7780d19ee9e3 Who Supports Future Perfect?] by Rachel Adjogah, July 19, 2023

==References==
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[[Category:American media]]
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[[Category:New York]]
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