the delacorte lectures

Delacorte Lecture with Slate’s Jacob Weisberg

The editor on the role of the online journal

Online audiences “don’t sit down for the full-course meal,” Slate’s Jacob Weisberg says, in distinguishing his online journal from its fellows in print. “It’s pretty much impossible to make a 5,000-word piece work online, unless you can figure out a way to break it into smaller segments.”

Speaking at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism on March 6, Weisberg told how his popular magazine tailors quality journalism for the Web. He discussed, as well, Slate’s strategies for increasing its traffic; the particular tone of Web writing (it’s generally infused, he says, “with a sense of wit”); the necessity of learning the language of links; and the happy fact that, “when something works online, it creates an addictive experience for readers.”

Listen to audio of the talk by clicking here. Enjoy.

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Previous Delacorte lectures:

Jon Meacham, Newsweek

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Ted Genoways, Virginia Quarterly Review


Rick Stengel, Time


Jim Hoge, Foreign Affairs

The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism presents The Delacorte Lectures, a series examining aspects of magazine journalism featuring a leader in the field of magazine publishing. The series is headed by Victor Navasky, the George T. Delacorte Professor in Magazine Journalism and director of the Delacorte Center. Click here to view all Delacorte Lectures.