Vox Media is Looking for Senior Reporter

Vox Media is Looking for Senior Reporter

Dylan Matthews, Senior Correspondent and Lead Writer of Vox Media Posted

"Vox is hiring a reporter to cover billionaire influence in politics and philanthropy. If you want to figure out what exactly people like MacKenzie Scott or Robert Mercer are doing, you should apply!"

As the leading independent modern media company, Vox Media ignites conversations and influences culture. Across digital, podcasts, TV, streaming, live events, and print, we tell stories that affect our audience's daily lives and entertain as much as they inform.

Vox Media portfolio features influential and respected editorial properties including Vox, New York Magazine, The Verge, The Cut, Eater, Vulture, The Strategist, Polygon, SB Nation, Intelligencer, Curbed, Grub Street, and Recode. Off-platform, the Vox Media Podcast Network offers one of the largest collections of popular podcasts, and Vox Media Studios produces and distributes the award-winning nonfiction shows. Powered by innovative technology that scales quality, the Chorus publishing platform and Concert advertising marketplace answer the always-changing needs of modern audiences, creators and marketers.

Vox Media has been named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies in Media,” an Inc. “Company of the Year,” Digiday’s “Best Company for Parents,” and one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign.

Recode and Vox are looking for a senior reporter to cover a newly emerging beat that’s finally capturing more of the world’s attention: billionaire power and influence in the US.

A newer class of billionaires has emerged in recent years as their tech companies have ascended to the top of the US economy and reshaped how Americans live, work, and communicate. Though these ultra-wealthy people are not elected officials, they and the companies they created wield comparable influence over our political, economic, and social systems. But they are not being regulated and checked as elected officials are, and a lot of coverage about their influence is surface-level — either fawning or cynical. They demand more scrutiny and more nuance.

Much of the work of this role will require you to look beyond the obvious, press-release driven news that announces billionaires’ charitable endeavors, political funding and leveraging, and placement on wealth lists. You’ll need to closely follow and even try to break news about these developments, but more importantly, you’ll need to understand and explain for our audience what it all means in context — what the bigger story really is. You’ll need the insights, sourcing, and perspective to understand that a local story about a proposed wealth tax in Washington state is actually a clear signal about what billionaires really feel about taxes, or that the helpful efforts of billionaires like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg at the start of the pandemic were also notable because they would deepen the world’s dependence on these already powerful people. Put more simply, this role needs a senior reporter with an insider’s expertise that they can then translate for a broad audience.

What you’ll do:

  • Work closely with your editor(s) to define and continue refining your beat
  • Pitch distinct, multifaceted stories that connect the dots between billionaires’ soft power and its consequences for our broad audience
  • Do research and source-based reporting to uncover how these powerful people are quietly wielding their influence and spending their money
  • Write sharp, authoritative analysis that explains the tangible stakes of these billionaires’ moves
  • Drive national conversations throughout the year with your reporting and analysis


What you’ll bring:

  • Sourcing and knowledge in the philanthropy, political funding, and/or wealth management worlds that’s relevant to the billionaire power beat
  • Eagerness and gumption to build out existing sources and find new, diverse ones
  • An ability to understand the fine details and nuances of a complicated story, while also being able to zoom out and put that story in its bigger context
  • Dogged reporting instinct
  • A conversational voice and sharp clarity when writing about complicated topics like tax loopholes, philanthropic vehicles, and political donations
  • Ambition, personal motivation, and an eagerness to collaborate with your editors, fellow reporters, and newsroom members


About working at Vox Media:

*This role is a part of the Vox Media Union, represented by the Writers Guild of America, East

This is a permanent, full-time position with excellent benefits—including flexible hours and generous parental leave. Vox Media strives to provide comprehensive healthcare options for Vox Media employees and to ensure that  healthcare and other benefits are LGBTQ-inclusive. You'll be joining a group of focused, hard-working, creative people who are passionate about doing work that's challenging and fun—and who strive to maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Vox Media is committed to building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and everyone is encouraged to apply. Vox Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, disability, national origin, protected veteran status, age, or any other status protected by applicable national, federal, state, or local law.

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Read More About Vox Media on The Stylists Suite Page. Click here. 

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