Journalist Zaid Jilani discussed the departures of co-founders Matthew Yglesias and Ezra Klein from Vox in the past month, saying he questions whether they thought the online news outlet’s model was “viable in the long run.”
Jilani said on on Hill.TV’s “Rising” that it is “really interesting” that Yglesias announced earlier this month that he left Vox to launch his own newsletter and that Klein decided to join The New York Times as a columnist and podcast host.
He also noted that Lauren Williams, the editor in chief and senior vice president of Vox, announced her departure last week to pursue a new nonprofit startup designed to create a news outlet specifically for the Black community.
“It’s interesting that one of, kind of, the largest startup media websites that has so much capital behind lost two of its co-founders and its editor in chief in the past month,” Jilani said.
“It makes me question whether the people over at Vox thought that their model was viable in the long run, whether they felt like they could express themselves freely … and whether they felt like, you know, at the end of the day, if legacy media kind of always wins,” he continued.
“The question is – is The New York Times kind of building the ‘Voltron of media’ here, hoovering up other people and …even Vox Media doesn’t feel like it can compete?” he asked.
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