''Slate'' is an
online magazine
An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the comput ...
that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former ''
New Republic'' editor
Michael Kinsley
Michael E. Kinsley (born March 9, 1951) is an American political journalist and commentator. Primarily active in print media as both a writer and editor, he also became known to television audiences as a co-host on '' Crossfire''.
Early life and ...
, initially under the ownership of
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
as part of
MSN
MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps provided by Microsoft. The main webpage provides news, weather, sports, finance and other content curated from hundreds of different sources that Microsoft has partnere ...
. In 2004, it was purchased by
The Washington Post Company
Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post Company) is a diversified American conglomerate holding company. Headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, and incorporated in Delaware, it was formerly the owner of ''The Washington Po ...
(later renamed the Graham Holdings Company), and since 2008 has been managed by
The Slate Group
The Slate Group, legally The Slate Group, LLC, is an American online publishing entity established in June 2008 by Graham Holdings Company. Among the publications overseen by The Slate Group are ''Slate'' and '' ForeignPolicy.com''.
The creation ...
, an online publishing entity created by Graham Holdings. ''Slate'' is based in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C.
''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
Jean-Marie Colombani (born 7 July 1948 in Dakar, Senegal) is a French journalist, and was the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper ''Le Monde'' from 1994 until 2007.
Biography
Educated at Panthéon-Assas University and Science-Po, he is the ...
, 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.
the magazine is both ad-supported and has a membership model with a
metered paywall. It is known, and sometimes criticized, for having adopted