Slashdot Mirror
Washington Post Buys Slate From Microsoft
securitas writes "The Washington Post has bought online magazine Slate from Microsoft for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the millions of dollars. The sale comes almost five months after Microsoft put Slate on the block (Slashdot) in late July. If you're looking for a perspective from someone other than Slate's editor Jacob Weisberg, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz writes about the sale: 'According to ComScore Media Metrix, washingtonpost.com drew 4.5 million unique visitors last month, while Slate drew 4.8 million.' David Carr reports in the New York Times that Neilsen NetRatings recorded 6 million Slate visitors last month. Either way, Slate's audience is larger than the Post's online edition. You can learn more about the deal from AP via IHT or get streaming audio at NPR (Real|Windows Media)."
The old media is nearly useless these days - corrupt and driven by greed, spin and fear. I don't have any faith in new media though because the truth doesn't naturally win out - the story that is accepted is that which has the best presentation and most nearly matches what the hearer wants to be true.
[Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
You're under the mistaken impression that the media sells news. No, I'm not being faecetious.
Actually, the media sells people. You, the reader, are not their customer -- you are their product. Advertisers are their customers. The cost of printing newspapers (which typically sell for 25-35 cents for daily in the US) is not even remotely covered by their retail value. Once, perhaps, but not today.
You just don't understand their motivation. Adverts on-line and adverts on dead trees both do the same thing -- on-line adverts might be even better, because they're much more dynamic (but perhaps also easily blocked).
Anyway, think about it.
I read slate for 4 reasons.
Cagle's political cartoon agregator. I can read 50 different political cartoons in about 10 minutes.
Explainer is awesome.. it actually addresses the questions that most paper's gloss over (like that story about Insulin usage in the olympics.. Explainer was the only place I'd seen that actually explained *why* athletes would even want to use insulin)
In Today's Papers is a great way to see what the lead stories are in the washington post, nytimes, latimes, and other places.
Ad watch.. reviewing television ads.. brilliant!