Fishbowl NY has the news:
TheAtlantic.com appears to be continuing its march to online dominance with the announcement that it has launched a business channel. Business.TheAtlantic.com, which went live today (Bank of America is the launch sponsor) will be edited by Megan McArdle and focus on business and economics featuring "original posts, dispatches, interviews and more from a range of experts", including The Atlantic's Tyler Cowen, Conor Clarke, Arnold Kling, Jim Manzi, Grant McCracken, and Bart Wilson. The page will be edited Currently running on the site is an interview with uber-business journalist Michael Lewis.
According to The Atlantic this is just the first of several new online channels to be introduced.
A few thoughts on this from The Cable Gamer:
First, as a practical matter, it's never been easier to start a "channel." I mean, what is a channel now? Does it have to be on TV, or is the Internet good enough? And what is TV, in a world of Hulu, YouTube, TiVo, Slingbox, and Flo TV and the like? In this new digital era, people get their video from somewhere and they don't really care where.
Second, never underestimate the big boss of The Atlantic, David G. Bradley. He has a proven track record in business, and a proven willingness to spend money on media talent for his various properties. Note, though, that those are two different points: Bradley makes money in business and spends money in media. He is hardly the first to wish to be a media mogul, no matter what it costs.
Third, The Atlantic is headquartered in Washington DC, having moved from Boston a few years ago. DC is not exactly the business capital of the country--but wait, that could be changing. If the Treasury and the Federal Reserve are the new big players in finance--doling out bailouts, expanding regulation, overseeing the "stimulus"--then Washington DC may finally eclipse NYC as the financial capital of the country. (That was the gist, btw. of an op-ed by Joel Kotkin in the Washington Post on Sunday.)
Fourth, the talent for the Atlantic might be well positioned, intellectually and ideologically. As far as TCG can tell from their writings, they are mostly libertarians; some, such as Andrew Sullivan, lean a little to the left, while others, including Megan McArdle, and Tyler Cowen, lean right. Such a libertarian tone is a good tonic for a time when we are supposed to place extraordinary trust in the government--trust the government to be smart enough to make us prosperous, do away with CO2, and provide health care for everyone. Maybe the government should do all these things, but TCG has yet to be convinced that the government knows how to do it. And that skepticism will surely be seen in The Atlantic's coverage.
Fifth, money and brains is not the same as TV savvy. Will these people be good on the tube? Or the screen? Will the presentation be fresh and compelling? That's a million-dollar question for Bradley & Co. to answer.
Here's the release:
Washington, DC and New York, NY (January 22, 2009) -- As many publishers struggle to develop a digital strategy, TheAtlantic.com is building on the online success of its brand with the introduction of several new channels. The first, Business.TheAtlantic.com, is dedicated to business and economics and launches today. Bank of America is a launch sponsor for the channel.
The channel will feature original posts, dispatches, interviews and more from a range of experts, including The Atlantic's Megan McArdle, Tyler Cowen, Conor Clarke, Arnold Kling, Jim Manzi, Grant McCracken and Bart Wilson.
The current volatile economic landscape has created an unprecedented demand for insight into the complex issues we all face,รข€ said Justin B. Smith, President, The Atlantic. "With this launch, we're helping our audience understand the big picture through the lens of The Atlantic's acclaimed opinion and analysis."
Fueled by the commentary of The Atlantic's wide-ranging team of bloggers, including McArdle, Andrew Sullivan, Marc Ambinder, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ross Douthat, Jeffrey Goldberg, James Fallows and Clive Crook, TheAtlantic.com has dramatically increased its traffic and cultural relevance during the past year. In 2008, it averaged 18 million page views and 2.6 million unique visitors per month, compared to 5.2 million page views and 1 million unique visitors per month in 2007. TheAtlantic.com recently tapped WIRED's Bob Cohn as Editorial Director.
