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slate (magazine)

{{pp|small=yes}}

{{Short description|American online politics and culture magazine}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Distinguish|Slant Magazine{{!}}Slant Magazine}}

{{Use American English|date=December 2019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Slate

| logo = Slate new logo.svg

| screenshot = Slate.com screenshot (2024-12-05)-1.webp

| screenshot_alt = Screenshot of Slate.com homepage in light mode

| caption = Screenshot of the website in December 2024

| url = {{URL|https://slate.com}}
{{URL|https://slate.fr}}

| commercial = Yes

| type = Online magazine

| registration = Optional for Slate Plus and commenting only (US readers)
Metered paywall (non-US readers)

| owner = The Slate Group

| editor = Hillary Frey

| author = Michael Kinsley

| launch_date = {{start date and age|1996}}

| issn = 1090-6584

| eissn = 1091-2339

| oclc = 728292344

| current_status = Active

| ipv6 = No

}}

Slate is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 2004, it was purchased by The Washington Post Company (later renamed the Graham Holdings Company), and since 2008 has been managed by The Slate Group, an online publishing entity created by Graham Holdings. Slate is based in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C.{{cite web |title= Slate Magazine: Private Company Information – Businessweek |url= https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=8200230 |publisher= Bloomberg.com |access-date= July 2, 2015}}

Slate, which is updated throughout the day, covers politics, arts and culture, sports, and news. According to its former editor-in-chief Julia Turner, the magazine is "not fundamentally a breaking news source", but rather aimed at helping readers to "analyze and understand and interpret the world" with witty and entertaining writing.{{cite news |url= http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/09/8553356/long-serving-deputy-julia-turner-takes-reins-slate |title= Long-serving deputy Julia Turner takes the reins at Slate |last= Levy |first= Nicole |date= September 30, 2014 |work= Capital New York |access-date= September 30, 2014}} As of mid-2015, it publishes about 1,500 stories per month.{{cite web |title= Unlimited FAQ |url= https://secure.slate.com/unlimited |work= Slate |access-date= July 2, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150703071551/https://secure.slate.com/unlimited |archive-date= July 3, 2015 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}

A French version, slate.fr, was launched in February 2009 by a group of four journalists, including Jean-Marie Colombani, Eric Leser, and economist Jacques Attali. Among them, the founders hold 50 percent in the publishing company, while The Slate Group holds 15 percent.{{cite news |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/interview-jacob-weisberg-chairman-slate-group-breaking-out-of-the-beltway/ |work= CBS News |title= Interview: Jacob Weisberg, Chairman, Slate Group: Breaking Out of the Beltway |date= February 15, 2009 |access-date=January 2, 2023}}{{cite magazine |url= http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-technologie-internet/2009-02-11/slate-fr-jean-marie-colombani-a-l-assaut-du-web/1387/0/315818 |title= Slate.fr: Jean-Marie Colombani à l'assaut du Web, actualité Tech & Net – Le Point |magazine= Le Point |date= February 10, 2009 |access-date= April 28, 2013| language= fr}} In 2011, slate.fr started a separate site covering African news, Slate Afrique, with a Paris-based editorial staff.{{cite web |title= Slate Afrique |url= http://www.voxeurop.eu/en/content/source-profile/2135951-slate-afrique |access-date= July 2, 2015 |publisher= VoxEurop |date= June 20, 2012}}

{{As of|2021|post=,}} the magazine is both ad-supported and has a membership model with a metered paywall. It is known, and sometimes criticized, for having adopted contrarian views, giving rise to the term "Slate Pitches".{{cite news |title= Contrarianism's end? |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/10/contrarianisms_end_1 |newspaper= The Economist |date= October 19, 2009}}{{cite magazine |last= Weisberg |first= Jacob |title= What Makes Slate Slatey? |url= http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/slates_10th_anniversary/2006/06/what_makes_slate_slatey.single.html |magazine= Slate |date= June 19, 2006 |quote= To be a Slatey writer, you must cut through the media welter ... This can be done in a number of ways. [One] is to make the contrarian case that all the common assumptions about a subject are simply and hopelessly wrong.}}{{cite web |last=Coscarelli |first=Joe |title=Slate's Contrarian Ways Mocked on Twitter |url=http://www.mediaite.com/online/slates-contrarian-ways-mocked-on-twitter/ |website=Mediaite |date=October 23, 2009 }} It has a generally liberal editorial stance.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/21/lets-rank-the-media-from-liberal-to-conservative-based-on-their-audiences/|title=Ranking the media from liberal to conservative, based on their audiences|first=Aaron|last=Blake|date=October 21, 2014|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=August 31, 2017}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2005/06/wolff200506|title=No Jokes, Please, We're Liberal|first=Michael|last=Wolff|magazine=Vanity Fair |date=January 2007|access-date=August 31, 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Winter|first1=Jessica|title=Slate Isn't Too Liberal. But...|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/slate_plus/slate_fare/2014/09/is_slate_magazine_too_liberal_or_conservative_what_members_said_about_the.html|website=Slate|access-date=21 September 2017|date=21 May 2015}}

Background

Slate features regular and semi-regular columns such as Explainer, Moneybox, Spectator, Transport, and Dear Prudence. Many of the articles are short (less than 2,000 words) and argument-driven. Around 2010, the magazine also began running long-form journalism. Many of the longer stories are an outgrowth of the "Fresca Fellowships", so-called because former editor Plotz liked the soft drink Fresca. "The idea is that every writer and editor on staff has to spend a month or six weeks a year not doing their regular job, but instead working on a long, ambitious project of some sort", Plotz said in an interview.{{cite web |last=Levy |first=Dan |date= April 4, 2011 |title=Slate of Mind: Q&A with David Plotz |url= http://sparksheet.com/slate-of-mind-qa-with-david-plotz/ |work=Sparksheet |access-date=3 August 2019 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027133919/http://sparksheet.com/slate-of-mind-qa-with-david-plotz/ |archive-date=Oct 27, 2019 }}

Slate introduced a paywall-based business model in 1998 that attracted up to 20,000 subscribers but was later abandoned.{{cite news |last= Sawers |first= Paul |date= June 8, 2015 |title= Slate slides behind a metered paywall as global readers are asked to pay $5/month|url= https://venturebeat.com/2015/06/08/slate-slides-behind-a-paywall-as-global-readers-are-asked-to-pay-5month-to-read-more-than-5-articles/ |work=VentureBeat |access-date= July 2, 2015}} A similar subscription model was implemented in April 2001 by Slate{{'}}s independently owned competitor, Salon.com.

Slate started a daily feature, "Today's Pictures", on November 30, 2005, which featured 15–20 photographs from the archive at Magnum Photos that share a common theme. The column also features two animated "Interactive Essays" a month.

File:Slate screenshot.png

On its 10th anniversary, Slate unveiled a redesigned website. It introduced Slate V in 2007,{{cite web |url= http://www.slatev.com/ |title= Home |work= Slate V |access-date= April 28, 2013}} an online video magazine with content that relates to or expands upon their written articles. In 2013, the magazine was redesigned under the guidance of design director Vivian Selbo.

Slate was nominated for four digital National Magazine Awards in 2011 and won the NMA for General Excellence. In the same year, the magazine laid off several high-profile journalists, including co-founder Jack Shafer and Timothy Noah (author of the Chatterbox column).{{cite news |title= Slate magazine lays off Jack Shafer, Timothy Noah |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/slate-magazine-lays-off-jack-shafer-timothy-noah/2011/08/24/gIQAtCCgcJ_story.html |newspaper= The Washington Post |date= August 24, 2011 |access-date= July 12, 2015 |issn= 0190-8286 |language= en|last= Farhi |first= Paul}} At the time, it had around 40 full-time editorial staff. The following year, a dedicated ad sales team was created.{{cite news|title= 'Slate' Gets a New Publisher |url= http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/slate-gets-new-publisher-143124 |access-date= July 12, 2015 |work= Adweek |date= August 27, 2012}}

Slate launched the "Slate Book Review" in 2012, a monthly books section edited by Dan Kois.{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/business/media/slate-to-begin-a-monthly-review-of-books.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130227193805/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/business/media/slate-to-begin-a-monthly-review-of-books.html |archive-date= February 27, 2013 |title= Slate to Begin a Monthly Review of Books |date= March 1, 2012 |last= Bosman |first= Julie |newspaper= The New York Times |access-date= April 28, 2013}}

The next year, Slate became profitable after preceding years had seen layoffs and falling ad revenues.

In 2014, Slate introduced a paywall system called "Slate Plus", offering ad-free podcasts and bonus materials. A year later, it had attracted 9,000 subscribers generating about $500,000 in annual revenue.

Slate moved all content behind a metered paywall for international readers in June 2015, explaining "our U.S.-based sales team sells primarily to domestic advertisers, many of whom only want to reach a domestic audience. ...The end result is that, outside the United States, we are not covering our costs."{{cite news |title= Hello, International Reader|url= http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/slate_fare/2015/06/slate_s_new_international_paywall_how_it_will_work_for_readers_abroad.html |work= Slate |date= June 7, 2015 |access-date= June 7, 2015 |issn= 1091-2339 |last= Turner |first= Julia}} At the same time, it was stated that there were no plans for a domestic paywall.

= Reputation for counterintuitive arguments ("Slate pitches") =

Since 2006, Slate has been known for publishing contrarian pieces arguing against commonly held views about a subject, giving rise to the #slatepitches Twitter hashtag in 2009. The Columbia Journalism Review has defined Slate pitches as "an idea that sounds wrong or counterintuitive proposed as though it were the tightest logic ever", and in explaining its success wrote "Readers want to click on Slate Pitches because they want to know what a writer could possibly say that would support their logic".{{cite magazine |url= https://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/trolling_readers.php |title= Stop trolling your readers|date= October 16, 2014 |access-date= October 16, 2014 |magazine= Columbia Journalism Review |last= Goldenberg |first= Kira}}

In 2014, Slate{{'}}s then editor-in-chief Julia Turner acknowledged a reputation for counterintuitive arguments forms part of Slate's "distinctive" brand, but argued that the hashtag misrepresents the site's journalism. "We are not looking to argue that up is down and black is white for the sake of being contrarian against all logic or intellectual rigor. But journalism is more interesting when it surprises you either with the conclusions that it reaches or the ways that it reaches them."

In a 2019 article for the site, Slate contributor Daniel Engber reflected on the changes that had occurred on the site since he started writing for it 15 years previously. He suggested that its original worldview, influenced by its founder Kinsley and described by Engber as "feisty, surprising, debate-club centrist-by-default" and "liberal contrarianism", had shifted towards "a more reliable, left-wing slant", whilst still giving space for heterodox opinions, albeit "tempered by other, graver duties". He argued that this was necessary within the context of a "Manichean age of flagrant cruelty and corruption", although he also acknowledged that it could be "a troubling limitation".{{cite web |url=https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/quillette-claire-lehmann-intellectual-dark-web.html |title=Free Thought for the Closed-Minded |last=Engber |first=Daniel |date=8 January 2019 |website=Slate (magazine) |access-date=9 January 2019}}

Podcasts

{{see also|Panoply Media}}

According to NiemanLab, Slate has been involved in podcasts "almost from the very beginning" of the medium. Its first podcast offering, released on July 15, 2005,{{cite web |title= Slate's Podcasting Guide |url= http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/podcasts/2005/07/slates_podcasting_guide.html |website= Slate|access-date= August 3, 2012}} featured selected stories from the site read by Andy Bowers, who had joined Slate after leaving NPR in 2003.{{cite web |website= Nieman Foundation for Journalism|title=Slate doubles down on podcasts, courting niche audiences and happy advertisers |url= http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/slate-doubles-down-on-podcasts-courting-niche-audiences-and-happy-advertisers/ |last= Phelps |first= Andrew |date= June 4, 2012 |access-date= April 28, 2013}}{{cite news |url= http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/02/slates-podcast-audience-has-tripled-in-a-year-and-its-bet-on-audio-over-video-continues-to-pay-off/ |title= Slate's podcast audience has tripled in a year, and its bet on audio over video continues to pay off |last= Owens |first= Simon |date= February 6, 2015 |work= NiemanLab |access-date= February 6, 2015}} By June 2012, Slate had expanded their lineup to 19 podcasts, with Political Gabfest and Culture Gabfest being the most popular. This count had shrunk to 14 by February 2015, with all receiving six million downloads per month. The podcasts are "a profitable part of [Slate's] business"; the magazine charges more for advertising in its podcasts than in any of its other content.

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

  • Amicus – legal commentary
  • Audio Book Club
  • Culture Gabfest
  • Daily Podcast – some of everything
  • Decoder Ring – with Willa Paskin
  • The Waves (formerly The XX Factor then Double X, with its own website at DoubleX.com, 2009–2013) – women's issues
  • Hang Up and Listen – sports
  • Hit Parade – pop music history
  • If Then – technology, Silicon Valley, and tech policy
  • Lexicon Valley – language issues
  • Manners for the Digital Age
  • Mom and Dad Are Fighting – parenting
  • Money – business and finance
  • One Year – discussion of affairs from a given year{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/one-year/ |title=One Year |work=Slate|date=November 17, 2021 }}
  • Political Gabfest
  • Spoiler Specials – film discussion
  • Studio 360 – pop culture and the arts, in partnership with Public Radio International
  • The Gist
  • Thirst Aid Kit
  • Slow Burn
  • Video Podcast
  • Trumpcast

{{div col end}}

Slate podcasts have gotten longer over the years. The original Gabfest ran 15 minutes; by 2012, most ran about 45 minutes.

Staff

Michael Kinsley was Slate{{'}}s founder and was its first editor, from 1996 until 2002. Jacob Weisberg was Slate{{'}}s editor from 2002 until 2008. Weisberg's deputy editor David Plotz then became editor until July 2014,{{cite magazine |last= Plotz |first= David |title= David Plotz Says Goodbye |url= http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/slate_fare/2014/07/slate_editor_david_plotz_julia_turner_succeeds_him_as_editor.html |magazine= Slate |date= July 14, 2014 |access-date= July 14, 2014}} when he was replaced by Julia Turner.

Turner resigned as editor of Slate in October 2018.

{{cite magazine

| url=https://slate.com/briefing/2018/10/julia-turner-slate-goodbye-to-editor-in-chief.html

| title=A Toast to Julia Turner

| magazine=Slate

| access-date=18 February 2019

}}

Jared Hohlt became editor-in-chief on April 1, 2019.{{cite news |last1=Peiser |first1=Jaclyn |title=Slate Picks a Skilled Storyteller as Its New Top Editor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/business/media/slate-jared-hohlt.html?smid=tw-nytmedia&smtyp=cur |access-date=7 March 2019 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 March 2019}} He stepped down in January 2022.{{cite news |last1=Tracy |first1=Marc |title=Slate's Top Editor Leaves After a Three-Year Run |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/business/media/slate-editor-jared-hohlt.html |access-date=25 October 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=5 January 2022}}

Hillary Frey was named new editor in chief in May 2022.{{cite news |last1=Fischer |first1=Sara |title=Slate taps Hillary Frey as new editor-in-chief |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/05/11/slate-hillary-frey-new-editor-in-chief |access-date=25 October 2022 |publisher=Axios |date=11 May 2022}}

=Key executives=

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

  • Hillary Frey (editor in chief)
  • Dan Check (chief executive officer)
  • Charlie Kammerer (chief revenue officer)
  • Susan Matthews (executive editor)
  • Jeffrey Bloomer (features director)
  • Forrest Wickman (culture editor)

{{div col end}}

=Notable contributors and departments=

{{div col|colwidth=23em}}

{{div col end}}

=Past contributors=

{{div col|colwidth=15em}}

{{div col end}}

Other recurring features

{{div col|colwidth=14em}}

  • Assessment
  • Books
  • Dear Prudence (advice column)
  • Dispatches
  • Drink
  • Food
  • Foreigners
  • Gaming
  • Science Denial
  • Shopping
  • The Good Word (language)
  • The Movie Club
  • The TV Club

{{div col end}}

=Summary columns=

References

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

External links

{{Commons category|Slate (magazine)}}

  • {{official website|https://slate.com}}
  • [https://www.slate.fr/ Slate] {{in lang|fr}}

{{Graham}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slate (magazine)}}

Category:American political websites

Category:Cultural magazines published in the United States

Category:Magazines established in 1996

Category:Magazines published in New York City

Category:Online magazines published in the United States

Category:Podcasting companies

Category:Political magazines published in the United States

Category:Graham Holdings