Slate.com editor stands down

Michael Kinsley has resigned as the top editor of Microsoft's online magazine Slate, but will stay on as a writer and editor, a spokeswoman for the company said.

Jacob Weisberg, Slate's political correspondent, and Jack Shafer, deputy editor, will temporarily oversee the editorial operations while the magazine looks for a new leader. Both are in the running for the slot, a spokeswoman said.Kinsley, a Harvard graduate who has served as an editor at New Republic, Harper's and Washington Monthly, helped start Slate in 1996.

His resignation "was a function of his having been doing this for six years and that was the longest time he'd held a job," Slate publisher Scott Moore said.Like other online publishers, Slate has struggled to find a successful business model. It first provided its highbrow political entertainment news and commentary for free and then became a pay-subscription site before switching back to being a free site in 1999.

Moore said Slate had 2.3 million unique visitors last December.

"We've really found our stride," Moore said. "We've established an editorial voice and an audience."

He added that he had a few ideas about who his dream editor would be, "but I think I'll keep those to myself for now."