A Frightening World to Wake Up To
The day after the 2024 election, New York editor-in-chief reached out his subscribers.
Dear Subscribers,
A frightening world to wake up to, and a morning swirling with disappointment, fear, anger, alienation. As I wrote to the New York staff earlier today, many of our political journalists have been at this a long time, and have been through mornings like this: Not just 2016 of course, but the 2004 presidential election comes to mind for me personally, and the heartbreaks that many state and local election nights inevitably bring each cycle.
I’ve been thinking of these colleagues today, in appreciation of all the excellent work we've published over the course of this campaign and through last night—and also as models for how one steels oneself. To press through, not so much by numbing ourselves from the news but actually the opposite: finding a way for it to galvanize us.
I consider our jobs as magazine journalists a privilege at times like this. I know that you, our readers, are expecting us—urging us—to interpret last night's results; more broadly, to unpack what’s least comprehensible about this country we live in; and going forward, to uncover the untold stories that got us here or signal what’s next.
I’ve reminded all of us here at New York—those who touch political stories and the many who don’t directly—to recognize that the world has changed yet again. We have spun into some new moment, one with vast new terrain to explore, with what will surely be new cultural characteristics and characters and ideas. I know I speak for the entire editorial leadership team in saying that we will capture this larger new new with a sense of responsibility, yes, but also deep curiosity. There will be so many stories to tell, starting with the final chapter of our once and future president (a man this magazine knows as well as any journalism institution).
We will not shy from covering the havoc, damage, and cruelty he will surely cause. And we are equally committed to chronicling, from our particular point of view, the larger cultural story of America’s forever transformation—from the outrageous and surprising to the subtle and profound.
Thank you, as ever, but especially today, for being our close and loyal readers. We do this for you.
David Haskell, Editor-in-Chief
@2024 VOX MEDIA. FROM A LETTER NEW YORK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF TO THE MAGAZINE’S SUBSCRIBERS.