Vox, a six-month old new website, is working with new ways to tell stories, whether it is through new technology or new ways to organize a news room, Vox co-founder and editor Melissa Bell said.
Bell and Vox design editor Yuri Victor spoke in the McKinley building on Oct. 23 about the beginnings of Vox and lessons they have learned. The event was hosted by the Online News Association D.C. chapter and attracted School of Communication faculty, students and alumni.
The way in which journalists tell stories is changing through social media, requiring their team at Vox.com to develop new techonology to help reporters tell full stories, Victor said.
Vox has built a platform from scratch by working with bloggers who know how to tell stories, according to Bell.
"I believe news can be offered in all sorts of different ways and we should be meeting readers in a way that they want to see it,” Bell said.
The vision for Vox was to bring the different members of the production staff into one place, a practice which is uncommon, Victor said.
"When we started Vox we really wanted to think about all the problems that we've seen in other newsrooms we've been in,” Victor said. “One of the big problems we saw was that there was so many different silos we wanted to move everyone to the newsroom.”
Yuri Victor, Designer at Vox Media.
Vox’s success comes not only from their innovation in reporting tools, but also from the easy to digest the nature of its content, he said.
"We have this hypothesis that people are interested in news, and it hasn't been accessible to them,” Victor said. “What makes Vox so successful is that our hypothesis was right.”
Victor’s newspaper and writing experience has helped him with Vox by allowing him to do a variety of jobs, which makes him flexible to do everything he can at Vox.
“I’m a designer and also a developer, [and] I was a photographer. I understand the issues that they face and can better empathize with them which I think makes for better communication in general,” Victor said.
Victor also encouraged students that are interested in technology to start going to get involved with media support groups and wordpress groups to tell stories quickly.
When asked what advice she had for young journalists, Bell advised students to remain determined and motivated.
“Find your own curiosity, take risks and keep going,” Bell said. “Don't get discouraged by people who tell you no.”
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