The popular American cult website Slate.fr is up for its French-version release. The exact date of release is still not clear; CB News reports that it is scheduled for 10 February, while another source (electionlibre.info) cites the end of February. Jean-Marie Colombani, former chief of Le Monde, is at the head of the project that unites some well-known names of journalism; notably, Eric Leser, Le Monde's New York correspondent, Eric Le Boucher, former editorialist at Le Monde, Johan Hufnagel from 20 Minutes.fr and Jacques Attali.

The French version of the site will be the first Slate site in a foreign language, reports Slate.com, a property of Washington Post. Its January release was delayed due to difficulties in financing and is scheduled to be up in "5 or 6 weeks", says Colombani. The financing, estimated between "2 and 3 million euros" will be provided by its founders as well as "capital from a source specialized in the media and new media which will accompany us", he explained.

Slate.fr will be modeled on its American counterpart but will contain original content in French and articles translated from English. The website will be free and will depend on advertising as an important source of revenue. The former director of Le Monde, though, seems hopeful about the future of the written press. "I don't think (the internet) will make paper disappear. But it will impose developments in the internet domain on paper enterprises. It is up to them to find a good mix of the two", he said, in an interview with Electronlibre.info.

Orange, a major telecommunications company in France is said to be associated with the project as a partner, though the level of its participation is not yet clear. There are rumours (possibly malicious) about how this partnership is linked to cordial relations between Colombani and the French President, Nicholas Sarkozy. The launch of the website in French is seen among many as a pro-government move, that will serve to counter the influence of leftist pure players such as Mediapart or Rue89.
It is interesting to note that with the launch of Slate.fr, two former Le Monde heads, Edwy Plenel and Jean-Marie Colombani, will become competitors on the internet with the former's paid-for model, Mediapart.fr and the latter's free model, Slate.fr.

A French version of Slate is somewhat surprising since the US saw the birth of more dynamic business models, like the Huffington Post or Politico. It has to be kept in mind that France24 was started in France about ten years after Al Jazeera Television in the Middle East. Now, after 13 years of Slate.com, it appears ready to appear in more international guises.

Sources : electronlibre.info, nonfiction.fr, slate.com,