Joe Posner
New York
Covers:
politics, crime and justice, science, health, economy, energy, world, education, environment
Doesn't Cover:
celeb
YOUTUBE.COM/@DREAMON
previously: vox video / explained co-creator, other things.
Articles by Joe Posner
Water crisis: Lessons from South Africa
South Africa’s director-general of water & sanitation Dr. Sean Phillips painted a dire picture of the country’s efforts to meet its constitutional mandate to provide clean water to all its people. “For the people in Johannesburg now who are experiencing disruptions in their water supply, it is a crisis.” The pivot to optimism we expected was not forthcoming as he sees the failures adding up across the country. “If you look at the results now compared to 10 years ago, you can see there’s a decline.
Clean energy is booming. We’re about to waste almost all of it. Original
One year since the U.S. passed the Inflation Reduction Act, the most ambitious climate bill in the country’s history, clean energy is booming. Especially in Texas — which might come a surprise given the crucial role the oil industry plays in the state. But Texas also tells the future about where we’re headed. The world is not moving fast enough: if the the US doesn’t dramatically speed up, it will miss its climate goals.
Inside the last best hope to solve the border crisis | Semafor
Even as seemingly everyone agrees the border situation is a disaster, the crucial elements of this issue run through Congress, which has been stalemated over basic disagreements for decades at this point. But a group of moderates are working together towards what they hope is a bipartisan compromise that finally breaks the impasse, and some are starting to see increased legal immigration as the only realistic relief for an historically tight labor market.
What Could the Rejection of the NCAA’s “Student-Athlete” Label Mean for US Workers Everywhere?
On September 29, the top lawyer at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a memo declaring that the institutions of college sports — including the NCAA, its member conferences, and universities — are misclassifying players as “student-athletes,” rather than employees entitled to basic worker protections and benefits. Abruzzo added that she would take legal action wherever the agency has jurisdiction under the National Labor Relations Act if the practice continues.
What could the rejection of the NCAA’s “student-athlete” label mean for US workers everywhere?
On September 29, the top lawyer at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a memo declaring that the institutions of college sports — including the NCAA, its member conferences, and universities — are misclassifying players as “student-athletes,” rather than employees entitled to basic worker protections and benefits. Abruzzo added that she would take legal action wherever the agency has jurisdiction under the National Labor Relations Act if the practice continues.
Introducing Vox’s new HBO show, Level Playing Field
We’re excited to announce our new documentary series, Level Playing Field, premiering Tuesday, September 14, at 8 pm ET on HBO Max. Each of the four episodes tells a different story from the world of sports to reveal a broader social inequality impacting all of us. In one case, that means following the plight of an NCAA student-athlete to understand what it can tell us about American labor policy — policy that is often shaped to serve the interests of employers in all sorts of industries.
Exclamation Mark (!)
The story of the exclamation point. How it came to be and are we overusing it today?
Watch our new show Answered on Quibi
We’re excited to announce that today we’re launching a new show, Answered, focused entirely on the coronavirus. The show is designed to help answer common questions and provide clarity and insight in this confusing moment in time. Each five- to six-minute episode is hosted by Vox’s Cleo Abram. You’ll recognize her from the great work she’s done with Vox’s short-form video team, and from our YouTube original series: Glad You Asked.
Why fighting the coronavirus depends on you
In March 2020, the World Health Organization officially classified Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as a pandemic. That means the disease no longer constitutes just an outbreak or even an epidemic; the coronavirus has now spread around the world, and will continue to reach into other countries and communities. That’s in part because of how contagious the virus is. When you’re infected with the flu, it takes about two days before you start to show symptoms.
Ford v Ferrari feels like a classic Oscar movie. Can it win Best Picture?
Every year, between five and 10 movies compete for the Oscars’ Best Picture trophy. It’s the most prestigious award that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences gives out every year, announced right at the end of the ceremony. And there aren’t any set rules about what constitutes a “best” picture. It’s the movie — for better or worse, depending on the year — that Hollywood designates as its standard-bearer for the current moment.
Vox’s newest show Glad You Asked launches on YouTube October 8
We’re so excited to share the first look at our newest series, Glad You Asked, coming to our channel October 8 with YouTube Originals. Our team of four Vox producer-hosts — Joss Fong, Alex Clark, Christophe Haubursin, and Cleo Abram — look into some of YouTube’s most-searched and most-interesting questions. In typical Vox fashion, we explore human curiosity questions like Why do we cry? What happens when we die? and Will we survive Mars?
The mind, explained in five 20-minute Netflix episodes
After nearly a year of labor behind the scenes, we have an announcement for you: Explained is finally back! And during this year, we’ve turned our attention to a crucial question: Why can’t we remember what is in the fridge? Or more importantly, why can’t we remember most of the details of our own lives? Why do an estimated one in three people suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point? And why, when we go to bed at night, are we overcome with strange visions?
Vox Earworm Storytelling: A Chat with Estelle Caswell
Vox Earworm Storytelling: A Chat with Estelle Caswell By School of Motion Share In this podcast episode we sit down with Vox's Earworm storytelling genius, Estelle Caswell. In today's episode we chat with none other than Estelle Caswell. This New Yorker is creating engaging content on a whole new level. Creativity seems to flow endlessly from her videos, and the Earworm series on Vox is a prime example.
An open letter to YouTube’s CEO
Dear Susan Wojcicki, YouTube’s social media profiles have been updated with a rainbow-themed version of your logo to celebrate Pride Month. But to truly celebrate your LGBTQ creators and users, there’s another more meaningful update you need to make this month. Your platform has made it easier than ever for people making abusive content to reach a massive scale.
How to make more Vox Video happen
Easy: Join the Vox Video Lab, our new membership program on YouTube. By Joe Posner and Mona Lalwani on December 17, 2018 1:00 pm You know that feeling you get when you learn something that blows your mind, something new, something that perhaps you didn’t even think to ask about? That’s our goal with every Vox video: We want to help you understand the world in a visually clear, creative, and hopefully beautiful way.
Vox’s Netflix show “Explained,” explained
On Wednesday, Vox is launching Explained, a new show on Netflix. Every episode is a roughly 15-minute dive into a topic that drives our lives or our world. The first three, which cover DNA editing, monogamy, and the racial wealth gap, are available now. You can watch the show — or add it to your Netflix queue for later — here. I hope you will. From now through the rest of the season, we will release a new episode every Wednesday.
How the Vox community inspired a global reporting journey | Borders
Nearly 6,000 story suggestions. 13 dispatches. 3 cameras. 11 countries. 6 documentaries. Vox Borders is one of the most ambitious projects that Vox has ever undertaken. From February to the end of November, dozens of people across the newsroom were devoted to the researching, reporting, community building, and producing required to publish our six documentaries.
Introducing the first Vox-ProPublica video fellow
Back in May, following a pastry-fueled brainstorm session, our newsrooms announced a partnership: the Vox-ProPublica Video Fellowship, a year-long position for a video producer, embedded in Vox’s team and producing work fueled by ProPublica’s reporting. We’d take ProPublica’s deep-dive investigative reporting and work with Vox’s first-rate video storytelling team to convey the work in new and different ways. Today, we’re pleased to announce our fellow: Ranjani Chakraborty.
Introducing the Vox-ProPublica Video Fellowship
A few weeks ago, folks from both our newsrooms sat down to enjoy some pastries and to brainstorm. We have teamed up a few times, doing work we’re quite proud of. But we felt like there was an opportunity to do more. After all, ProPublica takes on big and almost inevitably complex subjects. And Vox is expert at clearly and compellingly conveying complex things. We left the meeting having enjoyed our cronuts.
Introducing the Vox-ProPublica Video Fellowship
A few weeks ago, folks from the Vox and ProPublica newsrooms sat down to enjoy some pastries and to brainstorm. We have teamed up a few times, doing work we’re quite proud of. But we felt like there was an opportunity to do more. After all, ProPublica takes on big and almost inevitably complex subjects. And Vox is expert at clearly and compellingly conveying complex things. We left the meeting having enjoyed our cronuts.
This week, Vox will take you live backstage at TED
We’re excited to announce that this week, in an exclusive partnership with TED, Vox’s video team will stream live backstage at the organization’s iconic flagship conference in Vancouver. Over the course of four days, TED and Vox will broadcast live interviews with the brilliant speakers and participants, led by Vox’s Dara Lind, Liz Plank, Phil Edwards, and me.
How the inventor of Mario designs a game
Shigeru Miyamoto is a big name in gaming. Since he first designed Donkey Kong in 1981, he’s been called “the father of modern video games” — and for good reason. Right after Donkey Kong’s release, the North American video game market came close to collapse in the early 1980s. Console sales alone peaked at over $3 billion in 1983 before plummeting to around $100 million by 1985.
2016, in 5 minutes
Many will rejoice as this challenging year comes to a close, but the events that took place in 2016 will have consequences that reverberate far into 2017 and beyond. It was a year with political turmoil and terrorism dominating headlines across the globe. In the US, a bitter election revealed the country’s widening cultural divide. And we lost luminaries like Carrie Fisher and Muhammad Ali, who reminded us not to accept the world as it is, but to be the change we wish to see.
Ezra Klein on Media, Politics, and Models of the World (Ep. 13)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / RSS Ezra Klein, editor-in-chief of Vox.com, joins Tyler Cowen for a conversation on biases in digital media, the morality of meat-eating, how working for large organizations has changed his worldview, the psychographics of CEOs, what’s missing in public discourse, the most underrated member of the Obama administration, and why you should never follow his lead on what’s good culture.
Watch the climate debate devolve into nonsense in the 10 years since An Inconvenient Truth
The Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, says climate change is a "scam." He plans to roll back Environmental Protection Agency regulations on fossil fuels and pull the US out of the international Paris agreement on emissions reductions. The 2016 Republican party platform mentions climate change only to dismiss it. So it's become really easy to forget that the Republican Party wasn't always compelled to reject scientific evidence on climate change.
Why Elon Musk says we're living in a simulation
Echoing a paper by philosopher Nick Bostrom, Elon Musk thinks there is a good chance humankind is living in a simulated reality. The general idea of our reality boils down to three possibilities — humans go extinct before we are able to run a simulation of this size, humans choose not to run ancestor simulations, or we are currently participating in such a simulation.
Muhammad Ali's biggest fights were outside the ring
Ali didn’t just shake boxing. He shook up the world. By Joe Posner Jun 6, 2016, 11:40am EDT It's no secret that Muhammed Ali was a lot more than a boxer. And the story goes way deeper than his name change. He stood up about civil rights before it was easy, with Malcolm X as his mentor. And his stand against the war in Vietnam cost him his career for almost four years in his prime. But he didn't mind.
Video data stories
Are you sure you want to delete your account? You'll lose everything, forever! Of course not!
The kiss cam, behind the scenes
For people who pay more attention to the screens above the court than the game below, the kiss cam is a highlight. It shows up at basketball, baseball, and hockey games, and it's a key part of arena entertainment. The above video shows how it all actually works — from the minutiae of the selection process to the business model that keeps the kiss cam running.
It’s not you. Bad doors are everywhere.
There’s a door on the 10th floor of the Vox Media office I hate so much. I can never remember which way it opens, and I get it wrong every single time. You probably know one of these terror doors too. But it’s not our fault. Roman Mars of the podcast 99% Invisible magically arrived in my cellphone to send me on a cross-country journey to find out the incredible story behind this common complaint: Don Norman's seminal book on design, The Design of Everyday Things, was motivated by the same issue.
Flint's water crisis, explained in 3 minutes
There has been story after story about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Vox has covered it extensively – from what the national media got wrong about the crisis to how lead exposure is a race issue to the national issue of lead in the soil of many American cities, plus a big explainer if you want to go deeper. But while the story has developed over the course of years, sometimes you just need the thing explained to you in three minutes. You came to the right place.
David Bowie, remembered in 9 songs that sampled him
The incredible legacy that David Bowie left behind after he died late Sunday night is so large, it's hard to document in a single way. His gender-fluid performances, a space-cover of "Space Oddity," his role in the fall of the Berlin wall, we've written a lot about Bowie here at Vox. If you're newer to his music, here are 13 songs that defined him. But one thing that will always travel forward now that David Bowie is gone, is his music.
What makes a truly great logo
About once a month, there's a new logo to fight about on the internet. The biggest one in recent memory was the highly controversial Hillary Clinton logo, which did not escape scrutiny from Vox.com either. But something about these repeated discussions struck me as missing the point on what makes logos tick. What makes them work often has little to do with the subjective musings. Most of the best logos in the world hit us slowly, arising out of obscurity – not from making a big splash.
Fear and loathing at a Trump rally
As Donald Trump's positions on Muslims got more extreme last week, he didn't take a hit in the polls. I was so shocked that I traveled to Iowa to talk to supporters at a rally. And I brought my video camera along. What I found was, at first, not surprising: As polls suggested, his supporters agreed with his Islamophobic proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from traveling to the US.
Re-reading is inefficient. Here are 5 tips for studying smarter.
Memory researchers say most students don't have a clue how to study efficiently. They re-read their notes and textbooks, but it turns out that's one of the least efficient ways to prepare for tests. Re-reading is a passive strategy. Active strategies like drawing diagrams, asking yourself questions, and using flashcards are much more effective. The most important tip? Don't cram. Check out the video above for more tips on how to study smarter.
How the DEA invented "narco-terrorism"
The story of the DEA and narco-terrorism is an important reminder that the specter of terrorism is often used to justify reactions that go far beyond the actual threat. The Bush administration famously linked Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 attacks during the ramp-up to the US invasion of Iraq. The DEA story is similar: As the video shows, the cases the DEA follows around the world are as fantastical as they are problematic and disturbing.
Why do people run the marathon? I ran one to find out.
In 2014, an estimated 550,637 people finished an organized marathon, according to Runner's World. One of them was me. Last November, during the New York City Marathon, I attempted to explain why 50,000 of us were running through the city: Marathon participation has been growing for 38 years straight, which is shocking given the tremendous strain the race puts on the body. It's easy to injure yourself, just like running (rather than walking) for exercise can increase the risk of injury.
Ta Prohm’s haunting ruins are also a 1,000-year-old climate change warning
It's called Ta Prohm now, but its original name was Rajavihara – the royal monastery – and it was dedicated to the Buddhist personification of wisdom. But what's more interesting than its construction to me is its current state: overtaken by jungle. Strangler figs and silk cotton trees merged with the temple structures during the 500-odd years it was abandoned. I stood there for a long time, shocked, filming its emptiness.
The shameful US response to the Syrian refugee crisis, by the numbers
The shameful US response to the Syrian refugee crisis, by the numbers Share All sharing options for: The shameful US response to the Syrian refugee crisis, by the numbers The US likes to think of itself as a safe haven for people fleeing violent conflict, but Syrians have largely found a closed door:
How to confront a war criminal
If you currently have a username with "@" in it, please email support@voxmedia.com. If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead. If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead. If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead. Try another email? If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.
The Charleston shooting is part of a long history of anti-black terrorism in America
If you currently have a username with "@" in it, please email support@voxmedia.com. If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead. If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead. If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead. Try another email? If you signed up using a 3rd party account like Facebook or Twitter, please login with it instead.
The Charleston shooting is part of a long history of anti-black terrorism
Was the shooting that killed 9 people in Charleston's Emanuel AME Church on Wednesday terrorism? To answer that, you have to know what made the church special — and how it and South Carolina have been targeted by centuries of anti-black terrorism. Here's why the attack was all too familiar and all too terrifying: For much more on the Charleston shooting, see our full coverage.
A brief, terrifying history of America’s nuclear mishaps
The shocking stories in the video come from investigative reporter Eric Schlosser's book Command and Control, in which he uncovered a "litany of errors" that go way, way beyond the official record of 33 serious accidents, known as "broken arrows." Even the first test, 70 years ago this July 16th, flirted perilously close with disaster.
Bernie Sanders is winning the internet and changing the conversation
Bernie Sanders's quest for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination is very unlikely to succeed, but his campaign has become an unlikely internet sensation , with Sanders content dominating social shares and driving coverage decisions. He's changing the conversation in American politics with an unusual — and effective — brand of politics. Sanders's virality doesn't show that he has a chance to win. If anything, it's the opposite.
Motherhood, explained by the experts: our moms
What is motherhood? We thought it would be best to ask the experts — our moms. The answers were powerful, silly, touching, and profound. They showed us that each experience of motherhood is unique, yet filled with universal lessons. This Mother's Day, if your mom is still with you, give her a call and ask her what motherhood meant to her, and what advice she has for you. We think you'll be glad you did.
Watch how the marriage equality revolution swept America
In May 2004, I took a quick trip home to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to witness something extraordinary: at midnight on May 17, the city hall where I used to head as a young boy to apply for street closing permits to have a neighborhood block party, opened its doors to a party in the streets of central square. It felt magical to see history taking place. Everybody there knew this was the start of something that wasn't possible to stop. And it didn't stop.
Here's what it's like to transition when you're not a celebrity like Bruce Jenner
Bruce Jenner, 1970s Olympian and star of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, told ABC News's Diane Sawyer, "I'm a woman," in an interview that aired Friday, April 24. With those three words, Jenner likely became the country's most well-known transgender person. But one thing the interview couldn't address is what it feels like to be in the middle of transition you're no celebrity, but just a normal young person. Lily Carollo opened up to me about this process in our newest video.
This single shot in Daredevil is the best fight scene in years
Daredevil's one-shot fight scene at the end of its second episode just might be our favorite fight scene in years. And the best moment of that scene doesn't even involve fighting. It shows our hero, and the men he's fighting, succumbing to exhaustion: The scene is shot in a single take, an extremely difficult feat to pull off.
Proof that "pro-life" and "pro-choice" labels don't work
There was one finding in our new poll on abortion, that shocked me: 39 percent of people chose "both" or "neither" rather than "pro-choice" or "pro-life." That's nearly four in 10 Americans who say that the typical labels in the abortion debate don't apply to them. But in a way, it also wasn't surprising. I hate being put in a box about even small things like having a favorite color. And this is as complicated and personal an issue as they come.
Cory Booker on how America's criminal justice system destroys the American dream
German Lopez:You've called the war on drugs a failure. What did you mean by that? But we've compromised those values severely during this so-called drug war — so severely that we're actually inhibiting public safety. We're consuming gross amounts of taxpayer dollars. We are undermining human potential. And we're doing it all in a way that has a significant, if not savage, disparate impact on poor people and minorities. That, to me, is a failure.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Joe
Contact Joe, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack