Hillary Frey
Editor-in-Chief, Slate
One of the biggest early success stories in online media on their push to “experiment and innovate” for an ever-growing audience
Hillary Frey is editor-in-chief at Slate. Founded in 1996 by software giant Microsoft, the online magazine brings thoughtful, long-form journalism on culture, politics and current affairs to a global audience. Previously, Hillary worked for the likes of NBC News, Politico and HuffPost, and was editor-in-chief at Yahoo! News. In this in-depth interview, she reflects on how her very first regular writing gig in the late 1990s was for Slate – and how returning nearly three decades later in the editor’s chair is a “funny story and an exciting opportunity”; shares how the company is always searching for ways to “experiment and innovate” in order to retain and grow its subscriber base, in an era when “too many consumers” expect to get high-quality journalism for free; and discusses the tension between covering the most popular stories – such as whether Donald Trump’s putative comeback will be a success – while also ensuring they offer their readers a wide variety of topics.