New Co-Hosts Named For The Weeds Podcast: Genius instead Of Grievance

 Vox VP of audio Liz Kelly Nelson and policy editor Libby Nelson have announced that Vox policy reporter Jerusalem Demsas and senior correspondent German Lopez are joining the network’s popular podcast The Weeds as co-hosts of the show’s Tuesday panel episodes. The two have frequently joined The Weeds as guests but will begin as weekly co-hosts in September. They join Weeds co-hosts Matt Yglesias and Dara Lind.

  

The Weeds is Vox’s original policy and politics talk podcast, launched in 2015 and releasing new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

 

 “German and Jerusalem have added so much as frequent Weeds guest panelists in the last year that bringing them on as the next generation of Weeds co-hosts was the logical, and perfect, next step as we continue to evolve the show. We look forward to the expertise and perspectives they bring to The Weeds’ Tuesday panels and in Friday interview episodes from time to time,” said Liz Kelly Nelson.

  

Jerusalem Demsas is a policy reporter at Vox, where she has written on housing politics, policy, and finance; urban economics; and other domestic policy issues. She has written previously on energy and environment issues for the Center for American Progress and is a graduate of the College of William and Mary where she studied economics and government.

German Lopez is a senior correspondent at Vox focused on national policy issues, particularly public health and criminal justice. He also writes The Weeds’ newsletter, and has appeared on the podcast to discuss topics ranging from marijuana legalization to gun violence to immigration. Previously, Lopez covered local and state policy and politics in Cincinnati for the alt weekly CityBeat.

 While this announcement may appear to be simple cast changes to a Vox podcast, there are two trends here to applaud for any hardcore podcast fan.

First, Vox continues its strategy of sprinkling its podcasts with smart and accomplished people from its own deep bench of talent. No highly-publicized "upgrade" with a celebrity signing to juice downloads, while downgrading the quality of the conversation.

Second, Vox continues to add intellectual depth to its podcasts, especially for a podcast like The Weeds where incisive thoughts triumph over incendiary rhetoric.