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An editor for 'The Verge' took a job with Apple — and didn't tell his employer

Investigation found no affect on coverage

Jason Abbruzzese

on September 23, 2016

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

An editor for The Verge took a job with Apple — but didn't tell his employer.

Chris Ziegler, a founding editor at the tech-focused digital media publication, began working for Apple in July 2016. Ziegler did not tell The Verge, where he had been a deputy editor, and continued to be employed by the website, according to Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel, who posted a note to The Verge on Friday afternoon.

Patel said that the website had become aware of Ziegler's dual employment and investigated whether he had been involved in any coverage of his new employer. Strangely, Patel said that the website had not heard from Ziegler in August or September.

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Vox Media, the parent company of The Verge, then verified Ziegler's dual employment and promptly fired him.

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Patel wrote that the investigation found that he had not had any impact on the site's coverage of Apple.

After interviews with more than a dozen Verge and Vox Media employees who worked closely with Chris, and a careful review of emails, Slack logs, and various login histories, [Vox Media Editorial Director] Lockhart [Steele] determined that Chris' conflict of interest did not have any impact on editorial decisions or journalism produced at The Verge or elsewhere in Vox Media. Chris did not attempt to steer any coverage towards or away from Apple, and any particular decisions he helped make had the same outcomes they would have had absent his involvement.

A Vox Media spokesperson confirmed Patel's post.

"Chris is no longer an employee of The Verge or Vox Media. Chris accepted a position with Apple, stopped communicating with The Verge's leadership, and his employment at The Verge was terminated," the spokesperson wrote in an email. "Vox Media's editorial director Lockhart Steele conducted an internal review of this conflict of interest, and after a thorough investigation, it was determined that there was no impact on editorial decisions or journalism produced at The Verge or elsewhere in Vox Media. We've shared details about this situation with The Verge's audience and will continue to be transparent should any new information come to light."

Apple and Ziegler did not immediately responded to emails seeking comment.

Media Twitter, with little better to do on a Friday afternoon, used the story to crack a few jokes.

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Topics Apple

Jason Abbruzzese

Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.