Microsoft PressPass – Microsoft Announces Slate as Name of New Online Publication Headed by Michael Kinsley
REDMOND, Wash., April 24, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that Slate
™
will be the name of its new online publication, with Michael Kinsley as editor. To manage Slate’s editorial content, Kinsley has selected an executive editorial staff that includes Jack Shafer as deputy editor, Jodie Allen as Washington, D.C., editor and Judith Shulevitz as New York editor. Slate will draw from the community of leading journalists, political and cultural figures, and policy makers to shape a timely and potent editorial calendar.
“I chose the name Slate, as in the blank variety, because we could pour meaning into it,”
Kinsley said.
“It’s short and crisp, and it suggests a hard reality to counterbalance the amorphousness of cyberspace.”
Slate plans to deliver high-caliber journalism to the Internet, providing thoughtful commentary on public policy and culture. Slate’s editorial features, interactive forums and reviews will offer a decisive, nonpartisan atmosphere for the culturally and politically engaged reader.
Shafer, who will be deputy editor, has a vast background in print media. He was most recently editor of the San Francisco Weekly. Previously, Shafer served for 10 years as editor of the Washington City Paper in Washington, D.C., shaping it into a cultural and political force in the nation’s capital.
Allen, who will be Slate’s Washington, D.C.-based editor, was previously the editor of the Washington Post’s influential Sunday
“Outlook”
section of opinion and commentary. Before that, she was a member of the Washington Post’s editorial board. Allen has held numerous positions in the public and private sectors, including work with the U.S. Secretary of Labor and Chrysler Corp. She is a frequent guest on news shows on CNN, CSPAN, National Public Radio and CBS’
“Inside Washington.”
Shulevitz, the New York editor of Slate, most recently was a columnist for New York magazine and before that was the magazine’s deputy editor. Shulevitz began her editing career at Lingua Franca, a magazine about academic and intellectual life. In 1993, with Shulevitz as co-editor, Lingua Franca won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence. Shulevitz is also a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review.
Slate will be published by Microsoft and is scheduled to premiere this summer.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft and Slate are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.