Better Slate than Never

Is there anything better than a new magazine?It's sleek, attractive, cutting edge and hasn't yet had the opportunity to disappoint you with its banalities. Slate.com offers readers real content everyday and surprisingly without all the fluff. This convenient, online news magazine boasts over 30 contributing columnists and writers. Slate also contracts dozens of freelancers, so you're never stuck reading the same ten writers. The magazine was created in 1996 by a division of MSN and Microsoft and was bought by the Washington Post Company in 2004. In 1998, the Website garnered some attention when it attempted to be the first online publication to charge yearly subscription fees. The plan was not a success and Slate has returned its content to free. Since 2008, Slate has been by managed by Slate Group which manages other web-only publications.

This Website is simple in its layout. If you want Arts just hit the the tab and the seven or eight most recent postings come up. The date is April 24th the most recent posting in the Arts is from early this morning. That is up to date. With things constantly going up on this Website you have to wonder are they good or just slapped together for the purpose of upping readership? The content here is pretty solid, none of that dry, textbook voice that can sometimes annoy even the most regular readers of the New York Times. The site offers much more than pop culture. There are additional tabs for News & Politics, Business & Tech, Science, Podcast & Video and Blog. The site loads quickly and without being overburdened with ads. This is a clean Website which blends the hands-on newscasting of 2011 with the old school journalism of years ago, but not without stunning daily photography. It was a pleasant surprise to see all those old Magnum prints adorning the site like seeing old Warner Bros. cartoons late at night.

With today being a holiday and all Slate published a fascinating response to the question why Easter hasn't turned into the commercialism of Christmas. This is an edgier article that you wouldn't see in the front section of any major newspaper because of the demographic of newspaper readers. The author James Martin, supposes that the basic story surrounding Easter is grizzly and hard to not think about where as Christmas' story is about birth and suggests more of a warm and cuddly feeling. He also continues to say that it is on the idea of Christ's return to life that Christians differ from other religions limiting this holiday to only true believers. This article is written with a lot of energy and clever sentences. It never points the finger and never criticizes any religious groups or ideas but clearly forms an opinion on a topical issue. Again, most newspapers are aimed at a suburban audience, where an article like this would almost certainly offend someone. It has a place on Slate because of the interesting nature of their publication.

This news magazine despite being almost twenty years old, is still closer to the direction of modern journalism than any other news source. The articles are fresh, well written and nicely layed out, even the name suggests the kind of cool work Slate produces.