AP News, January 28th, 2008
The Washington Post Co. launched a new online magazine Monday aimed at a black audience, featuring commentary from leading black writers, along with information on genealogy.
Called "The Root," the Web site is the brain child of Post Co. Chairman Donald Graham and Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, serves as editor in chief of The Root. Lynette Clemetson, a former New York Times reporter, is the magazine's managing editor. Jacob Weisberg, editor of the online magazine Slate, also owned by the Post Co., helped develop The Root.
"We see ourselves as a daily black newspaper in a magazine format with three channels — news, views, and roots," Gates told The Associated Press. "And it's the roots channel that ... makes us completely unique."
On Monday, the Web site featured commentary on the presidential race by Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson and others. There were news articles from Newsweek.com, also owned by the Post Co., and other sources.
Other writers who will contribute commentary include New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell and John H. McWhorter, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, the magazine said.
The goal is to provide a forum "as diverse as the black barber shop or black beauty parlor," Gates said.
A section on the Web site titled "Roots" has information about DNA testing and assists registered users in mapping their family trees. The site carries advertising from AfricanDNA.com, a Web site co-founded by Gates, though it provides information on other DNA testing companies, too.
Gates said the genealogy component is key to the magazine's mission.
"It's vital for African Americans to be able to recreate their family trees," he said.
Doing so leads to a deeper understanding of history, Gates added. "It's not some abstract thing — it starts with your own family," he said.
HBO has signed on as a founding sponsor, the magazine said.
___
On the Net:
The Root: http://www.theroot.com/
