This episode of PressPectives features Swati Sharma, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Vox, a digital news outlet celebrated for its accessible and explanatory journalism.
Sharma discusses her career journey, from an aspiring political advocate to a leader in modern journalism, with past roles at The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. At Vox, she aligns her mission to inform and empower audiences with the organization’s evolving focus on solution-oriented journalism.
As EiC and Publisher, Sharma integrates editorial vision with business strategy, overseeing content creation, revenue planning, and audience engagement. She emphasizes Vox’s success in multi-platform journalism, tailoring content for specific audiences across text, video, and podcasts. She also highlights Vox’s membership model, fostering deeper connections with readers.
Sharma reflects on embracing change, the future of AI in journalism, and Vox’s role in bridging understanding, showcasing a commitment to high-quality, empowering content.
Swati Sharma
[0:00] For us, it's very important for our work to be credited in those spaces. And so we have this partnership where it's important when a Vox story is used, it's seen that it's used.
Ruairi Doyle
[0:21] Hi everyone and welcome to a new episode of the PressPectives podcast. I am your host Ruairi Doyle and I am here to help us dive into the latest trends and ideas in technology and publishing together with incredible guests. Whether you're an industry pro, a curious learner or just looking for some inspiration, you are in the right place.
In this episode of PressPectives, we are meeting with Vox. One of the most interesting digital news outlets of the American landscape. Vox is part of Vox Media, a group of editorial brands that ignite conversations and set trends. Vox Media was born in 2011 to encompass sports blog SB Nation and the technology website The Verge. In the last 10 years, the group has grown to include editorial brands like New York Magazine, The Cut, Vulture, The Dodo, amongst others, and a podcast network, non-fiction studios, an advertising marketplace, and a proprietary content management system, which I believe is called Chorus.
Joining us today from Vox is none other than Vox's Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Swati Sharma. Swati, you are very welcome to the PressPectives podcast. It is great to have you on our show. Where in the world are you joining us from and how has your week been?
Swati Sharma
[1:42] Thank you so much for having me here. I am calling in from Washington, DC. And my week has been wonderful because it's the first fall week in DC. So it's cozy. It's beautiful weather and really enjoying our time here.
Ruairi Doyle
[2:02] Same here in Vancouver and BC. I love the change in colors of the trees, the reds, the greens, except for when I have to get those leaves off my lawn and my car. It's a bit of a challenge, but a first world problem.
I want to start by finding out a little bit more about your background. At PressReader, we're mostly focused on newspapers and magazines, and we carry one of your group's titles, the New York Magazine. I'm excited to speak to you because what Vox does is pretty unique and so indeed is your own background and profile. If our research is correct, you started your career at a local news outlet in Massachusetts, the India New England.
And from there, you went on to work in editorial and digital news roles from organizations like the Boston Globe, to The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. Can you tell us a little bit about your own journey and what brought you into this wonderful world of publishing and journalism?
Swati Sharma
[3:12] Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm from California and growing up early on events like 9-11 especially really made me think about the world we live in and especially I felt something really deeply which is that people who didn't have information, people who are ignorant about major issues were able to create and live with some prejudices and maybe some issues that, you know, a lot of evil in our society, I think, comes from ignorance. And I learned that early on. so initially, I wanted to go into politics. And I thought maybe that's the way you can connect with people, where you can make real change happen. Maybe you can change the systems and bring people along.
But after doing an internship in the State House in Massachusetts, I quickly realized, actually, I want to be able to cover what's happening and help people understand what's happening in the world. And quickly, I had the same mission as I had developed when I was younger, when I was 14 years old, but it evolved over time. And it became more about serving people and giving them, creating journalism that reaches a lot of different types of people and lots of different types of groups. I'm really proud of that transition that I made into journalism very quickly.
But since then, I have really thought about all of the ways that journalism can serve people even more than it has in the past. And so that has resulted in the field that I've chosen.
Ruairi Doyle
[4:56] And that mission, your own personal mission statement seems to overlap very well with Vox's own goal, which I think today it's that everybody, regardless of income or status, can access accurate information that empowers them, which goes a long way to fighting ignorance, if I can put it that way. It's very meaningful, very powerful, very close to our own mission here in PressReader. Can you tell us what that means to you today in your role as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher at Box?
Swati Sharma
[5:31] Yeah, it means a lot of things. I mean, first of all, I think what Vox has been doing since the beginning is providing amazing explainer journalism. Right? And so it's just makes sense that our mission today is constantly giving people meeting people where they are and giving them the kind of approachable information.
And I call it information because it's not just news. I think a lot of people are facing news fatigue. So we're finding ways to give people solutions to help them feel empowered and they can choose. mean just having information and understanding what's happening in the world makes you feel empowered. And so that's why it means a lot to me because I see people in my world who maybe didn't often consume a lot of journalism or news take Vox in because it meets people where they are.
It's easy to follow and you don't have to have a lot of knowledge about what's happening in the world to understand Vox and to watch a video or listen to a podcast or read a story. And so that's why I think Vox has really, you're totally right, it almost sounds like my mission came after Vox, but it's actually my mission led me to Vox, which is a very nice feeling.
Ruairi Doyle
[6:50] So tell us a bit more about your role today at Vox. I think you initially begun your journey there as Editor-in-Chief and now the role includes being Publisher, as well as the Editor-in-Chief and leader of editorial. What's the difference between Editor-in-Chief and Publisher? How do you combine those roles? And what's a typical day look like for you?
Swati Sharma
[7:15] Yeah, that's a great question. I started with just being Editor-in-Chief and as you said late last year, I also became publisher. And I think it's so incredibly important and so incredibly valuable because I do believe that the only way you have a really strong business model is that it is tied to the journalism. The journalism that we do is incredible and our business model does go hand in hand. And we can talk more about our membership model and other initiatives we've started. But really, it's been incredible to be able to look at the work with both lenses in both ways and tie them together.
And I do think it's something that maybe many years ago in journalism wouldn't seem natural. But today, I think it's very possible to have both titles. And it really, I think, does help the journalism and the business side. And my day to day is basically I do something very different every 30 minutes. It goes from like talking about our revenue strategy for a new initiative to top reading a story about Israel to, you know, thinking about what type of hires we want to make for our podcasts. It's really everything, but that's the most fun part about my job. It's different every 30 minutes.
Ruairi Doyle
[8:50] I like the positioning. It's different every 30 minutes. Alternative way I like to talk about it these days is it's never boring. But I mean, if I can dive a bit deeper into that, you're changing context. Every 30 minutes, you mentioned, you know, looking at a story about what's going on in Middle East at the moment to talking about revenue or membership or subscription models to hiring people as a leader. How do you manage through constant, manage yourself through the constant shifting context throughout the day and week because it is different.
Swati Sharma
[9:25] Yeah, you know, when I talk to younger journalists or people who want to go into journalism, I tell them, if you don't like change, don't come into this field. Because I think the only people who survive and thrive are people who are just so comfortable with change. And that's, I thrive on change and you learn that, but you also have to become so accustomed to it. So for me, I really, I'm almost like looking for new adventures every day and looking forward to solving the next thing.
And it actually keeps me and if anything, I think if I was doing one thing and focused on one thing, I would have just found energy in different ways. But with my role, it's just so fun because it's different all the time. But you have to be a person who's OK with that. You have to be a person who really does feel comfortable with change. And if you're not, journalism is just a very tough field to go into.
Ruairi Doyle
[10:28] So if it's okay for me to say Vox, I would put it up there as one of the poster childs. And I mean that in a positive way of multi-platform content production and publishing. And, you know, in the last 10, 15, maybe even more years, the most forward looking publishers have been focusing and strengthening their multimedia output, their new newsrooms, their training of new journalists coming into the organizations. How have Vox gone about mastering the multi-platform or multimedia newsroom?
Swati Sharma
[11:05] I really do think, mean, first answer is very simple. It really is all about the journalism. We have excellent journalism on all three platforms. though I've made it a real big mission for video, audio, and text to work, and our social media platforms and our newsletters to all work together, it's really important that they all really understand and are native to the platforms they're in. And so each it is just excellent, excellent journalism. And there isn't one section that is, you know, just maybe replicating. The audio isn't just replicating what's in text and the video isn't just copying what audio did. It's they all do stand on their own.
But I do believe each one really does reflect what Vox is and Vox's mission and Vox's approach to journalism. And I think that really creates a sort of cohesive vision and voice on each platform. I do also believe that a podcast sounds like a podcast and a video on YouTube really looks like a great YouTube video. And we have pioneered explainer videos. Now you see them everywhere, but Vox really did start them. And so I think how we've gotten success is we understand each platform.
We speak the language of the platform, but then we really do have journalism that's very original and has a very tight mandate and mission. And that then helps us stay really true to what we're supposed to be doing. And I think that's made us really successful in having this multi-platform strategy.
Ruairi Doyle
[12:50] And in today's news world, news consumption, production world, it's hyper segmented. There's audiences from multiple different generations. just producing in those different platforms and channels is often not enough. And yesterday I was reading an article in the New York Times. I think the title was something like, "Can the Media Save Itself"?
And there's some symposium in Greece at the moment about the future of publishing. And the premise was that publishers are just out of touch, quite frankly, in how to speak and connect with younger audiences in the platforms that they're in. I'm curious how, and I know you speak about the journalism and the production into those platforms, but how does Vox, or what is your strategy, apart from the explainer videos, in trying to train your team to speak to those different audiences and influence them and gain their trust.
Swati Sharma
[13:54] Yeah, I think that's a really important mission for really every journalistic institution and especially for Vox where we pride ourselves on serving the people. I think a lot of us, know, come people at Vox, live all over the country. We have a very strong remote workforce. So we have people who live in different places. also, it is about the mission. We pride ourselves in speaking to diverse audiences. We pride ourselves in speaking to the school teacher, but also the professor in New York and the intellectual in DC, and also my cousins who live in Washington state.
We really do pride ourselves in reaching so many different types of people. And there are a few places that the kind of reach we do where it's you have the people who are the policymakers in Washington reading Vox. And you have people who are living, who are maybe school teachers, like I said, in the Midwest watching our YouTube videos. You really do have this very diverse audience.
And it's all about, again, the journalism. It's the people we talk to. It's the reporting we do. It's the vantage point of thinking about who your audience is. And I think if, when I talk to other journalistic institutions, I think it's so important incredibly important to know who your audience is and who you're serving. And at one point, I do think in journalism, people didn't want to think about the audience. They would think the work is so important, we just keep doing the work.
But I think it's so incredibly important to think about who your audience is and who you're reaching because it does shape your work. And so what you've been saying about being out of touch. That's not an option for Vox because that's who Vox is. So we have to constantly talk to people. We have to constantly understand what's happening and we have to constantly think about the different demographics we're trying to reach.
Ruairi Doyle
[15:54] And so speaking of demographics and audience, one of the most interesting parts of Vox, I think for other publishers who may be listening in, is the funding model. You blend advertising, grants, individual publication subscriptions or platform or site subscriptions together with I think this year you launched a new membership plan.
Can you speak to us a little bit about how this blended model works for Vox? I'm not sure if you're able to share, but what's the sort of distribution between the different models that you have in that mix?
Swati Sharma
[16:32] Yeah, so we have advertising, which includes just page views, but also editorial sponsorships that we have. Then we also have grants, is organizations, foundations, working with them and getting grants to do a certain type of journalism. And then we also have membership, which is really great. And membership is a really exciting opportunity for us.
What happened is during COVID, we started a contributions plan, which is just that people felt compelled to support our newsroom and to give us money. And what that has morphed into is membership, which is what we decided is Vox's journalism, again, is so original and strong that people did want to become a part of our community. They did want to create a relationship with us.
And that has led to becoming members and getting maybe it's member exclusive stories. Maybe it's behind the scenes. Maybe it's Q&As with their favorite journalists. Whatever it is, it is something that we thought is a unique offering that Vox can give. And I think because of the nature of our journalism, we're excited to make it so that there are some pieces that are accessible, some pieces that are members only, but we have a system where people can really be a part of our world.
Ruairi Doyle
[18:05] I like that part of our world. can relate to the membership world because I know for a fact that I am a supporter or member of The Guardian, whereas I'm a subscriber of The New York Times and The Globe and Mail. And it doesn't change my appreciation for the subscriber content that I have, but I feel part of The Guardian's world.
I feel like that I bought into that that I'm supporting it. So you launched this membership earlier this year 2024. Yes, I'm curious. How has it been received to date or anything you can share with us on the success of the program since launch?
Swati Sharma
[18:41] I think what I'll say is that what we've been seeing is the people who were once one-time contributors are really taking part of the membership program, which is so heartening that people who did just felt compelled to support us are choosing the next layer of becoming members. And we're seeing that at a pretty high rate. And really excited to welcome you as a member soon whenever you're ready.
Ruairi Doyle
[19:14] Right after this call. Well, we have some of your content in PressReader. So with this membership model, it can be, you know, another alternative source of revenue support income to news organizations. And we've all seen the statistics in terms of, you know, news deserts, particularly in the US with local great media outlets closing and being under severe financial pressure. So the membership model is one that some are testing. And I was wondering, would you have any tips for smaller publishers or a publisher who is thinking about testing or exploring this membership model?
Swati Sharma
[20:00] Yeah, absolutely. I believe that you can't have a membership model unless you know exactly what your mission is and who your audience is. And I think a lot of organizations believe, know, local organizations often maybe believe that, you know, their mission is to serve this community and maybe it stops there. I would ask them to think very specifically what uniquely does your news organization do and I'm sure they put a lot of thought into it but articulating that tightly, thinking about exactly who your audience is goes a long way and thinking about why would someone want to be a part of your community? Why would they want, what do they get out of becoming a member?
The way that you're speaking about being a member of The Guardian is very inspiring and I think each organization has to think about that, has to think about what doesn't mean to have that relationship. So I think doing a lot of the work in figuring out what you offer, what you uniquely offer is very important. And then it's all about building a loyal audience. And that is, that does take a really tight strategy that does take a lot of work, but I also think it's very much possible.
Ruairi Doyle
[21:16] Recently, the Vox mission statement had an update making the link between understanding the world and shaping it explicitly. Most brands go through these updates and find tuning phases and we've done our own recently. So I know the type of work that goes into these projects and it's particularly interesting if it's appropriate to say sensitive for publishers who are, so in touch with readers and what's going on in the world. Can you tell us more about this mission update and what it means for Vox, but particularly how you will make the link between the shaping part and the understanding part and how the brand and the output is going to help shape the world?
Swati Sharma
[22:05] Yeah. On the first part, I'm just like the exercise of changing the statement and evolving. That goes back to what I was saying earlier about the importance of being comfortable with change and evolving, because I do. is, you know, more than 10 years old now. And if we stayed the way we were, that doesn't work. And it's always important to not only evolve, but have the mindset where you're always paying attention and ready to ready to take the next step. That doesn't mean you don't have a clear offering and that doesn't mean that you're just changing all the time. It just means that you're ready to evolve with the times. And so what Vox used to be and still is just extraordinary in-explainers and explanatory journalism. It's something that we are very well known for.
Explanatory journalism is really now everywhere, which is amazing. And we're really, really proud of that and being able to pioneer all of that work. What is the next step of that? And so for us, we believe that we are giving people such easy, approachable information. And the next step is that we want people to feel empowered to use that information to make themselves better or make the worlds around them better.
The one thing is, think everyone is facing this, is people really do get really run down by news and by feeling that it's very bleak and it's tough out there. And we have seen that, we've talked to people, we have a sense of that. And I don't think the answer of that is not covering what's happening in the world, but it's being able to give people information that doesn't keep them, always keep them feeling discourage.
That doesn't mean sugarcoating information. It means finding ways to deliver it and finding nuggets of solutions that really do appeal to them and make them feel like there's something they can do in society. So the step from explanatory journalism, which is very important to get to this next phase, which is still explanatory journalism, but journalism that can help you make the changes that you want around you is the key and we think that it's something that will make, we think it will really make society better if we give people these tools and this information.
Ruairi Doyle
[24:40] Yeah, it's a noble mission and provides I imagine, a sense of social purpose in what you guys do day to day and in how you work. I'm curious how, you know, we talked earlier about the brand and the empowerment and now the mission statement information sharing and shaping the world. How do you as a leader inspire or reinforce those elements throughout the team day to day? How does the leadership carry out that or fulfill that mission from the leadership layer across the organization?
Swati Sharma
[25:18] Yeah, we do it in a couple ways. One, we believe that we have so many leaders at Vox. I actually believe, I learned this from one of my mentors, Kevin Merida, who was running the LA Times, that no matter where you are, you can be a leader. And we really do believe that our journalists across Vox buy in and believe in this mission. And that goes a long way because we are a very mission-oriented newsroom. That's one thing. The second is we do the actual leadership levels, layers, do try to have lot of conversations with people and do at every turn remind people, remind everyone of what our goals are. That goes a long way.
The other thing we do is we actually have, we can talk all you want, but it is really, I believe that you also have to have the process in place to make sure that the work does meet the mission. And so we have these approaches where each story has to belong in a certain type of approach.
Of course, it kind of varies from different platforms, but a story should write maybe what's hidden in plain sight or should show people like dissecting a very complicated policy idea, or it should connect something to the larger stakes or should help you live a better life.
Or there's a lot of chaos and there are a few places other than today explained our podcast does such a good job. If there's chaos, they will explain it and help you understand it and give you the full picture. So we make sure that we do have a very clear strategy so that people understand everyone in our newsroom knows what a Voxey story is no matter what the platform is. And that goes a long way to making sure all of our work reflects our mission.
Ruairi Doyle
[27:18] Awesome, fascinating how you guys stitch that together in the production process. Those approaches or themes, if I can call them that, are they kind of predetermined or they're collaborated on each time? It's quite flexible.
Swati Sharma
[27:34] It depends. Sometimes a big, huge news story happens and the team usually knows like, we need to just explain what's happening. So the mission, the goal is very clear. But sometimes through reporting, is very much like, actually this news moment is a smaller part of this hugely bigger story. So it's connecting to the larger stakes.
So it's definitely... You need to settle on an angle by the end. Sometimes you start with it or you have a hypothesis and the reporting leads you wherever you need to go. But it should never be a hindrance to the journalism. It should only help the journalism. So it really depends on the story and the moment. But usually by the end, it's very clear what the mission of the story is.
Ruairi Doyle
[28:22] Earlier this year, Vox announced its own partnership with OpenAI's ChatGPT. You are one of a number of publishers that are now working with OpenAI. Are you able to tell us a little bit about that partnership?
Swati Sharma
[27:34] I think what I would say is that, you know, I think new things come up. Again, this goes back to my theme of, I guess my theme of this interview is change. Open AI is there and I think it's really important for news organizations to figure out how to work with them. And for us, it's very important for our work to be credited in those spaces. And so we have this partnership where it's important when a Vox story is used, it's seen that it's used.
And we are going to keep doing our original journalism. I will say moments like this do push you to remember the journalism that we do, we believe is very original. And, you know, I don't think it's going to be at this moment taken away by AI. If anything, we're hoping that our original journalism will continue. And when OpenAI uses us, they will now have to credit us. And we think that's a good thing.
Ruairi Doyle
[29:39] Yeah, it fundamentally is a good thing, attribution and the provenance of content creation. A part of the deal, I think, Vox have with OpenAI and some other publishers is a collaboration component to innovate together on solutions for Vox's readers. Are you able to tell us anything about what's happening behind the scenes or what might be coming from a collaboration perspective outside of just attribution and accreditation.
Swati Sharma
[30:12] Well, what I'll tell you is that we have a working group in our newsroom where we're figuring out what is the right thing to do and not just like how you work with AI, but how you cover AI. And I believe our AI coverage has been really robust across audio, video and text. We just talked to Yuval Noah Harari on his new book, 'Exploring AI' on our podcast, The Gray Area. So we're constantly covering the topic, but...
We also have a working group. We love working groups where people are thinking about ways that we can use the tools that we have at our dispense.
Ruairi Doyle
[30:50] And you mentioned the working group and all of the content that's been produced around AI in Vox, but I'm curious of your own background. You've been around the houses, you've worked for a number of different publishers over the years. AI, optimistic, cautious, unsure? In what way do you lean in terms of the potential impact of AI on our industry?
Swati Sharma
[31:14] I think I agree. I feel, as I'm talking to, I feel very old, but I don't think I'm very old. But it's like, feel like I've been around with all of these various changes and things that have come through. And this is the new one. So I'm curious to see, I would say curious is my word. Always good to be a little cautious. Always good to be a little optimistic. But I would say I fall in curious and want to see where things go.
Ruairi Doyle
[31:40] Awesome. I love this theme of change throughout our conversation today. Last question. Finally, to end off with a question that we like to ask all of our guests, imagine a parallel universe where you never ventured into the world of journalism. You never worked for a publisher in Massachusetts or any of these big brands that you worked with throughout the US.
What unexpected career or passion might you be pursuing?
Swati Sharma
[32:14] You know, I don't think I would ever have the courage to pursue this, but I would want to be a script writer for the Hindi film industry, which is also known as Bollywood. And that would be my dream.
Ruairi Doyle
[31:40] Maybe AI can fulfill that ambition.
Swati, it's been a pleasure to talk to you to get to learn the inner workings of Vox and what's going on there. And I loved their theme around change today. Thank you very much for joining the show.
Swati Sharma
[32:40] Thank you so much for having me. This was a pleasure.
Ruairi Doyle
[32:45] That's a wrap on our latest episode of the Prospectus Podcast. Thank you very much Swati for joining us and thank you all so much for tuning in again. We will be bringing you new episodes every month, each one featuring a different leader in the world of publishing. So be sure to subscribe in all the usual spaces like Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube to catch up with the latest.
So be sure to subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to catch the latest. Bye for now.