Slate Launches French Edition, More Coming In Europe?
This story was written by Robert Andrews.
WPNI-owned current affairs webzine Slate has launched its first foreign-language edition in France and may consider further European rollouts. Slate.fr is a franchise operation that has been founded by former Le Monde editor Jean Marie Colambani and former 20minutes.fr editor Johan Hufnagel; 15 percent is owned by the Washington DC-based publisher, AFP says. The site's launch had been delayed in January by a last-minute funding hiccup; Colombani said an investment of between 2 million and 3 million comes from the founders and an unidentified media source.
Hufnagel told Le Figaro a big source of revenue will be selling content to Orange, rather than relying on web ads alone. EditorsWeblog: "The Washington Post (NYSE: WPO), which owns Slate, is seeking to test out the site's model and to look into its success rate outside of the US. However, prior to launching editions across other European destinations, Slate.fr must be put to test, Hufnagel said." The Slate.fr target is for 700,000 unique users and 10 staff by year's end.
France has a rich heritage of political discourse and of accompanying news weeklies, but an ailing newspaper industry - crippled to such a degree, by union rules that prevent publishers reorganising and by a dysfunctional print distribution network, that President Sarkozy has pledged to give free annual newspaper subscriptions to every 18-year-old. The web is filling the void - sites like Rue89 and Mediapart, each founded by disgruntled journalists, have cropped up to offer an online outlet for civic discourse and columnists. Slate is launching a year or two behind entrenched local rivals such as these, but, in staff like Colombani, is packing some influential figures.
By Robert Andrews