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The problem of developing engaging online content that serves the interests of readers, journalists, and advertisers alike has persisted since the explosion of the Web in the 1990s. Information may want to be free, but high quality journalism also wants to be compensated. Although modern media companies have learned valuable lessons about how to create high quality, profitable online content, the industry still has more to learn about how to create content better suited for the capabilities of the Web. One company, Vox Media, is hoping to develop answers to these problems and to other important challenges in online journalism. Founded in 2003, Vox Media is a digital media company that manages a set of editorial brands focusing on major content categories like sports (SB Nation), technology (The Verge),gaming (Polygon), and real estate (Curbed). Vox Media hopes to become a purely online version of media companies like Conde Nast, Time Inc., and Disney. Vox Media consists of over 300 sites, all of which are built on its proprietary Chorus digital publishing platform. For example, the SB Nation brand consists of hundreds of sites, most of which are focused on individual professional sports teams. Vox Media also launched a news and politics site under its flagship domain, Vox.com, in 2014.Vox.com plans to use the persistence of the Web and freedom from the space restrictions of traditional print media to cover the news more effectively and engagingly. In traditional print media, there are space constraints for every article, and each inch of column space is precious. Space online is more abundant, and the editorial compromises required to get the most information possible into a fixed space are no longer necessary. Vox hopes to avoid oversimplifying a complicated topic or omitting any details except the most pertinent.Not only that, but the Web makes it much easier to find older material or to search within archives. Most home pages emphasize only the newest developments. In print media, each day’s news is forgotten, as staff and management continually focus on the next day’s content. But on the Web, this doesn’t need to happen. Topics can build organically, and journalists can focus on new developments instead of repeatedly explaining the same concepts each day. In this way, the Web is “persistent” in a way that print media is not; the previous day’s content is still readily available, and the next day’s content can build on it, enriching coverage and reducing journalists’ workloads.Sites like Wikipedia use the persistence of the Web to great effect, as articles continue to build over time, retaining information that is still relevant while updating information that has become outdated. But very few online news outlets take advantage of the persistence of the Web. Vox envisions this type of approach to covering the news. In the past, many of the most important topics in the news have been troublesome for media companies because they’re distasteful, difficult to understand, and difficult to cover. If Vox reaches those lofty goals, it will likely be because of unique features like the card stack. Card stacks are modular topic resources that are updated to reflect the most recent developments in a particular area. For example, there are card stacks for Bitcoin, ISIS, and Obamacare, where each card discusses one specific element of the topic; for example, the Bitcoin card stack features cards such as “How do people get bitcoins?” and “Does Bitcoin have a security problem?” For complicated topics with a lot of jargon or subordinate topics that need to be frequently explained, card stacks are a perfect companion to relevant news articles.Highlighted text within these articles indicates when a card can better explain a phrase or a topic. Card stacks have some things in common with Wikipedia, including persistence and contemporariness.

1.How does James Bankoff, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Vox, describe Vox Media?

2.What does Bankoff say Vox Media’s approach is to digital media?

3. What does Bankoff think about the issue of trust and quality with respect to online content as it relates to Vox Media?

4.According to Bankoff, how does Vox Media intend to grow?

5.What is the difference between Vox Media and Vox (Vox.com)?

6.What does Matthew Yglesias say that he is hoping to achieve at Vox.com?

Answer 1

1. How does James Bankoff, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Vox, describe Vox Media?

a. James Bankoff describes Vox in simplistic terms is that Vox creates media brands. High quality large media brands like Buzzfeed and Vice. They focus on creating these media brands for a new generation of consumers that prefer to consume their content digitally. He states Vox focuses on digital content because typical printed media like Time or GQ are slowly transitioning to digital media to appeal to the new generation of consumers. They utilize the Internet as opposed to cable or printing services. James Bankoff describes Vox Media as the parent company of other editorial brands. He hopes for Vox Media to one day become a purely online version of media companies.

2. What does Bankoff say Vox Media’s approach is to digital media?

a. Bankoff describes Vox Media’s approach to digital media as a “vertical” approach. They don’t want to become the type of media outlet where they are simply a portal to the general news. Vox Media chooses to create individualized brands that can appeal to a certain genre of news as opposed to all news. The example Bankoff gives is SBNation which focuses on sports. This allows for these brands to have a specific identity and authority over their topic matters. They hire web native content creators like journalists and storytellers and provide them the tools to grow their audience internally and externally.

3. What does Bankoff think about the issue of trust and quality with respect to online content as it relates to Vox Media?

a. Bankoff discusses how it’s important to have big communities of interest so that people can vouch of the quality and credibility of the different news sources. He understands the importance of having a distinct voice and comments on the period where a lot of Internet sources were to not be trusted and Vox Media wanted to bring back that trust and bring back that quality.

4. According to Bankoff, how does Vox Media intend to grow?

a. They put the emphasis on their individual brands and titles as opposed to the corporate entity itself. Each individual brand does well, but the clear connection to the entity “Vox Media” is not clear. Bankoff states that social referrals from sharing links on Facebook or Twitter is their number 1 traffic source and that is how Vox Media continues to grow to consumers. He states that unlike a lot of other companies, Vox Media also gains a lot of direct traffic as well. He mentions that while purchasing smaller news sources and putting them under the umbrella of Vox Media, he plans to focus more on growing the sites they own. He has the confidence that they can grow properties from the ground up. Bankoff mentions that they plan to utilize more video web as they continue to grow.

5. What is the difference between Vox Media and Vox (Vox.com)?

a. Vox Media is the corporate entity in charge of 8 influential brands that all have their own unique identity to appeal to an individual consumer segment. One of their unique brands is Vox.Com which was launched to appeal to world news and politics. Vox.com plans to use the Web and freedom from the space restrictions of traditional print media to cover the news more effectively and engagingly. Vox.com has grown exponentially since launch providing a milestone for Vox Media as they hope to grow more brands from the ground up. They will add more genres as web archives.

6. What does Matthew Yglesias say that he is hoping to achieve at Vox.com?

a. Matthew Yglesias states he is hoping to achieve a company that provides the greatest sources available for people to understand the issues that are in the news. They want to have the ability to move fast in the media. He wants Vox.mom writers to understand that what they publish last forever as web archives and it is important for them to keep that in mind. He strives for quality and credibility at Vox.com.

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