Thanks for doing this AMA, I’ve been a fan of both of your writing for a while now. Matt in particular, I was deeply unsettled by your criticisms of Israel when I first discovered your posts on Crooked Timber back in the day; later on, when I found your blog on Slate, I pretty much read everything you wrote (at the very least, literally every blog post) from mid-2010 until you moved to Vox. You played a particularly pivotal role in helping me structure a worldview on the subjects of economics, politics, and the relationship between them. Thanks for writing guys!
Questions:
1) Paywalls seem to be catching on in the digital media business. Do you see Vox transitioning to a paywall in the medium term? Do you think it will be necessary in the long-term? If not, how do you see Vox succeeding where, say, the NYT could not?
2) How would either of you (or both) structure your ideal system of representation and government? You can, of course, assume whatever norms underlying this society you wish, or whatever prioritization of values/ends this government should pursue.
3) This might sound more like a complaint, so it should be read in the context of my fandom noted above: when you guys left WaPo and Slate respectively, I expected Vox to be the best thing ever: an endless stream of Moneybox posts and healthcare wonkiness and interviews with Paul Ryan that went deep into the details of his core beliefs and how they translated into his budget, etc. Instead, we’ve been getting clickbait Jon Stewart aggregation mixed with some clickbait “political correctness” chastisement. (I’m using the term the way Chait did.) My question is… what happened? Is this sellout going to last forever? Is it just to get the site up and running, or are the Vox Media overlords going to demand this sort of thing forever?
4) Speaking of the Chait piece, Ezra, what did you think of it?
Thanks again!
coolsnow726 karma
Thanks for doing this AMA, I’ve been a fan of both of your writing for a while now. Matt in particular, I was deeply unsettled by your criticisms of Israel when I first discovered your posts on Crooked Timber back in the day; later on, when I found your blog on Slate, I pretty much read everything you wrote (at the very least, literally every blog post) from mid-2010 until you moved to Vox. You played a particularly pivotal role in helping me structure a worldview on the subjects of economics, politics, and the relationship between them. Thanks for writing guys!
Questions:
1) Paywalls seem to be catching on in the digital media business. Do you see Vox transitioning to a paywall in the medium term? Do you think it will be necessary in the long-term? If not, how do you see Vox succeeding where, say, the NYT could not?
2) How would either of you (or both) structure your ideal system of representation and government? You can, of course, assume whatever norms underlying this society you wish, or whatever prioritization of values/ends this government should pursue.
3) This might sound more like a complaint, so it should be read in the context of my fandom noted above: when you guys left WaPo and Slate respectively, I expected Vox to be the best thing ever: an endless stream of Moneybox posts and healthcare wonkiness and interviews with Paul Ryan that went deep into the details of his core beliefs and how they translated into his budget, etc. Instead, we’ve been getting clickbait Jon Stewart aggregation mixed with some clickbait “political correctness” chastisement. (I’m using the term the way Chait did.) My question is… what happened? Is this sellout going to last forever? Is it just to get the site up and running, or are the Vox Media overlords going to demand this sort of thing forever?
4) Speaking of the Chait piece, Ezra, what did you think of it? Thanks again!
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