Since the mid-1990s, we’ve witnessed one of the greatest transformations of the written word since the printing press. Join us for a discussion about the proliferation of online-only magazines and their centrality to the contemporary media landscape. The Graduate Center’s Peter Beinart speaks with Jacob Weisberg, editor in chief of Slate Group and former editor of Slate; Susan Glasser, editor of long-form journalism and opinion at Politico; and Ben Williams, online editor of New York magazine.

Jacob Weisberg is chairman of The Slate Group, overseeing Slate, The Root, and the video site Slate V. Weisberg is the author of In Defense of Government and The Bush Tragedy, and coauthor with former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin of In an Uncertain World. Previously a writer and editor at the New Republic, he joined Slate in 1996 as chief political correspondent and served as its editor from 2002 to 2008. Weisberg has also been a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, a contributing editor of Vanity Fair, and a reporter for Newsweek in London and Washington.

Susan Glasser was recently appointed editor of long-form journalism and opinion at Politico. She is the former editor in chief of Foreign Policy. During her tenure, the magazine was honored for online general excellence by the Overseas Press Club and won three digital National Magazine Awards. Glasser spent four years as co-chief of the Washington Post's Moscow bureau. With her husband Peter Baker, the New York Times White House correspondent, Glasser is the author of Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution.

Peter Beinart, senior political writer at the Daily Beast, is the author of four books, including The Icarus Syndrome and, most recently, The Crisis of Zionism. He is an associate professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Beinart is also former editor of the New Republic and has written for the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, and many other periodicals.

Ben Williams is editorial director of New York Media’s digital properties: nymag.com, the online outpost of New York magazine; Vulture; Grub Street; and TheCut. Under his leadership, the sites have won six National Magazine Awards, including three for General Excellence, and contributed to New York’s 2013 win for Magazine of the Year. Before joining New York, Williams was at Slate from 2003 to 2004. His writing has appeared in the Village Voice, Time Out New York, Artforum, and Paper. 

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