Its simply more fun and will give you extra cool points, Vox (12/14/16) declares of the latest gadget from its corporate cousin.
FAIR.org: Voxs Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest, Explained
One of Voxs major investorssecond only to Comcastis General Atlantic. The New Yorkbased private equity firm invested $46.5 million in Vox Media in December 2014, roughly six months after the flagship website Vox.com launched. As part of the deal, General Atlantic VP Zachary Kaplan got a seat on Vox Medias corporate board.General Atlantic also invests in several technology and media companies Vox Media covers, without Vox disclosing this fact.
For example, General Atlantic was one investor in a recent $1.8 billion fundraising round for Snap, Inc., the company formerly known as SnapChat that makes the popular social media photo app by the same name. Voxs coverage of Snapchat since General Atlantics May 2016 investment has been glossy and favorable, primarily in its New Money section launched in October:
Snapchats $25 Billion Initial Public Offering, Explained for People Over 30 (10/6/16)
The Snapchat Spectacles Craze, Explained (12/14/16)
Nowhere in these flattering articles is it mentioned that Vox Media shares a sizable investor and board member with a private equity firm invested in Snap, Inc. The October article is an explainer on why Snapchats large IPO is justified, and the December post is indistinguishable from a Snap, Inc. press release.The same day, Vox Medias tech vertical, The Verge, also ran something that read like an ad with no disclosure:
You Can Get Prescription Lenses for Your Spectacles for as Little as $29 (12/14/16)
Its common for tech websites to run puff copy for products, but in the context of a shared investor and Voxs corresponding post, the lack of clear disclosure does a disservice to Voxs readers.General Atlantic was also one of three lead investors in a $1.5 billion fundraising round for AirBnb in December 2015. While Vox has been critical of AirBnbs high-profile problems with racist users, the New Money vertical was quick to defend the San Fransisco room-sharing giant after New York state passed restrictive legislationagain, without any disclosure of General Atlantics investment: New Yorks Crackdown on Commercial Airbnb Listings Is Misguided (11/18/16).
When asked for comment on their disclosure policy, Vox managing editor Lauren Williams wrote back, Thats something weve been thinking about, and we plan to post one in the new year. A follow-up email asking whether Vox covering companies owned by its major investors was a potential problem has had no response so far.Vox Media also shares a major investor, Comcast (via the cable giants NBCUniversal subsidiary), with BuzzFeed. The cable giant gave both companies $200 million in August 2015, and gave Buzzfeed another $200 million in October 2016. On Monday, Vox Medias ReCode (12/19/16) published what was literally a press release from BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti without disclosing this shared investor.Vox has also frequently written directly on Comcast without any disclosure that it is its primary investor. One explainer from last year (4/24/15) detailing the failed Comcast/Time Warner merger didnt mention this fact at alla stark omission even by the most liberal standards of disclosure.
While its not as journalistically problematic, Voxs television writers frequently give fawning reviews of NBC shows (e.g., NBC Is the Internets TV Network Punching Bag. But Its Fall Schedule Is Its Best in Years, 8/16/16) without disclosing NBCUniversal is its primary investor (though, it should be noted, Vox did pan NBCs Olympics coverage).More dubiously, Vox has written articles embedded with exclusive episodes of SeeSo shows.
Curious how Vox got such a scoop? Probably because SeeSo is a subscription service owned by NBCUniversala fact not disclosed in these puff pieces, or any of Voxs television coverage.Indeed, the closest one can get to disclosure guidelines comes from a rather defensive post last year (10/27/15) from TV and culture writer Todd VanDerWerff after Zaid Jilani (AlterNet, 10/26/15) and others brought up the fact that VanDerWerff wrote a glowing endorsement of Hulu without disclosing that the video streaming service and Vox shared an investor in NBCUniversal. Basically, VanDerWerff insisted that NBCUniversal is a minority shareholder in Vox Media (and therefore beneath mention), despite the fact that two-thirds of the cash Vox has raised to date has come from the media giant. Because Vox Media is a private company, shareholder breakdown is impossible to determine, but insisting its minor is misleading to the average SEC-illiterate reader.
FAIR.org: Vox Media has had disclosure problems in the past
Comcast-Owned Vox Explains the Great Deal Youre Getting From Comcast
It appears Ezra Kleins new media startup Vox is taking on many of the habits of old medialike blurring the lines between business and editorial by running a thinly disguised commercial for Comcast, the cable giant that not only seeded Voxs initial run, but recently invested $200 million more in its parent, Vox Media, Inc.
The September 8 explainer by Todd VanDerWerff, caught by Gawkers Sam Biddle, courageously explains why Comcasts policy of bundling cable is actually in the users best interest.The idea that a media outlet partly owned by a cable company would run an article arguing cable policies are actually good for the consumer is bad enough, but Vox didnt even disclose the rather glaring conflict of interest until it was publicly shamed on social media.
