Slate (magazine)
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.
Type of site | Online magazine |
|---|---|
| Owner | The Slate Group |
| Created by | Michael Kinsley |
| Editor | Hillary Frey |
| URL | slate slate |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional for Slate Plus and commenting only (US readers) Metered paywall (non-US readers) |
| Launched | 1996 |
| Current status | Active |
| ISSN | 1090-6584 (print) 1091-2339 (web) |
| OCLC number | 728292344 |
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. As of mid-2015, it publishes about 1,500 stories per month.
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. In 2011, slate.fr started a separate site covering African news, Slate Afrique, with a Paris-based editorial staff.
As of 2021, 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". It has a generally liberal editorial stance.