My first impression was: The New Republic.

Seriously, the roster of features, the cover story (is that the right term
anymore?) and even the artwork of Bob Dole reminded me of nothing so much
as Kinsley's old publication. The biggest difference is that it takes a
hell of a lot longer to read Slate because you have to wait for everything
to download, even with the graphics off. Maybe it's my slow-as-molasses
connection; my 14.4 modem would be just fine if I could actually ever
receive anything at 14.4.

I haven't read the Dole story yet, but my favorite feature so far is the
Microsoft debate. I was less than enthralled with the roundup of news from
the week (though the "underplayed" items were good), and only slightly
more interested in the digest of other magazines. The horse race feature
was amusing, but I'll suspend judgment for now on whether I'll find it as
interesting the 10th time around.

Overall, I appreciate the effort to do serious, original journalism on the
Net (I haven't checked out Word and Feed, I admit), and I hope that the
judgment from Suck that web users only want TV-style information nuggets
proves to be inaccurate. The length of the articles didn't bother me in
the least (at least not after I downloaded them); I've read much longer
pieces on a computer screen and generally find that it's OK as long as the
writing is interesting. The absence of any noticeable attempt at hipness
or detatched irony struck me as somewhat refreshing (though not unique to
this publication, Kinsley's protestations to the contrary). 

For me, the test of Web-ness is not fancy graphics but interactivity,
which this site doesn't display yet. I'm looking forward to the
readers being able to participate in the publication. We'll see how much
of a gatekeeper mentality the editors bring. 

The ultimate question: Would I read it if I had to pay for it?  At this
point, probably not. Then again, I don't subscribe to the New Republic,
either. 

- -- Bob King
Political/environmental reporter
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Sarasota, FL
bobking@gate.net




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