Ezra Klein, who founded Vox three years ago, is handing off the editor in chief reins to his deputy Lauren Williams.
Ezra Klein Leaving Vox for The New York Times MOVING ON Six years after co-founding the digital news website, Klein is taking his talents back to a print publication. Ezra Klein is the editor-at-large and founder of Vox. Before that, he was columnist and editor at the Washington Post, a policy analyst at MSNBC, and a contributor to Bloomberg.
Klein said the editor job has been one of the 'great thrills and honors of my life,' but 'I feel a deep need to be out reporting on this political era, and to be working directly on the projects we're launching next year.'
Those projects include a daily podcast and a fresh push into television programming.
The leadership transition was officially announced on Tuesday. Williams, who has been Klein's executive editor for the past nine months, will become editor in chief. Allison Rockey, the site's director of programming, will succeed her as executive editor.
'In Lauren and Allison, Vox has amazing leaders ready to guide our future and build our organization,' Klein told CNNMoney.
His new title will be editor-at-large. 'So proud of @ezraklein for firing himself!' his wife Annie Lowrey quipped on Twitter Tuesday morning.
Vox bills itself as a destination for explanatory journalism. It has been a closely watched venture since Klein left The Washington Post to launch it in 2014. Silverlight for mac microsoft. Its parent company, Vox Media, also operates The Verge, SBNation, Eater, and other titles.
The changes atop Vox come at a time of anxiety for digital publishers. Nik collection for mac. Some startups have been mocked for attempting so-called pivots to video. But Klein said that's not what is happening at Vox.
'This is something my co-founder Melissa Bell says often, but there's no pivot to video because we've always done video -- the first piece of content we published was a video, and we have four Emmy nominations this year!' he said via email.
The new TV project, which is slated for 2018, is an outgrowth of what the site has already been doing, he said.
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Vox CEO Jim Bankoff tweeted in response to the changes, 'fastest growing news brand of past 3 years still has a lot of explaining to do.'
Vox co-founder and editor-at-large Ezra Klein will be leaving the outlet to join The New York Times as a columnist and podcast host.
Times Opinion announced the addition Friday in a statement from editors Kathleen Kingsbury and Paula Szuchman, who wrote that Klein 'will be able to help our readers and listeners navigate the political future as Washington moves into a new era.'
Klein confirmed the news on Twitter Friday afternoon, writing that 'after nearly eight amazing years building, editing, and working' at Vox, he will be officially moving to the Times in January.
'Helping to build@voxdotcom has been the great privilege of my journalistic life,' he wrote. 'It is so much more than I ever could have imagined, and that's because of the insanely creative, committed people who work there.
'I love them more than I can say. I will cheer them on forever,' he added.
'I've always believed it's important for founders to know when to let new generations take the reins,' he continued. 'One of the great privileges in starting Vox was we got to build without anyone looking over our shoulder. We got to pursue our vision, make our mistakes, imagine our future.'
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Helping to build @voxdotcom has been the great privilege of my journalistic life. It is so much more than I ever could have imagined, and that's because of the insanely creative, committed people who work there. I love them more than I can say. I will cheer them on forever.
- Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) November 20, 2020We could only do that because we were supported by a great company that believed in us. The single best decision we ever made was joining @JimBankoff and @Clockwerks at @VoxMedia. It's a truly special place, with unusually great leadership and culture.
- Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) November 20, 2020Klein, who founded Vox with Melissa Bell and Matthew Yglesias in 2014, published the book 'Why We're Polarized' this year and, in 2018, launched the Netflix series 'Explained,' covering topics from the racial wealth gap in the U.S. to the rise of cryptocurrency.
Klein also confirmed Friday that Vox's editor-in-chief, Lauren Williams, will be leaving her role in February.
Williams tweeted Friday that she will help launch Capital B, a local and national nonprofit news organization serving Black audiences, in mid-2021.
So I'm thrilled to share that my friend @ko_616 and I are launching Capital B, a local and national nonprofit news organization serving Black audiences, in mid-2021.
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- Lauren Williams (@laurenwilliams) November 20, 2020Ezra Voss
Last week, Yglesias announced that he had left Vox to start his own newsletter, although he told Axios at the time that he will continue to host his Vox Media podcast, 'The Weeds.'
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The series of Vox departures followed journalist Glenn Greenwald's resignation last month from The Intercept seven years after co-founding the online publication, citing censorship by his own editors over an article concerning President-elect Joe Biden.