Yesterday, Atlantic Media, the parent company of The Atlantic, launched Defense One. The site’s editor describes Defense One’s mission as such:
Defense One will deliver a daily mix of stories by award-winning journalists and useful, insightful commentary across the entire national security spectrum — from politics and procurement to global affairs and ground troops. Expect breaking analysis on the top news events of the day to run alongside deeper dives that shine a critical light on lesser-known facets of a national security world that most never see. Look for a range of voices from senior leaders in Washington to commanders abroad and next-generation thinkers far from the political scrum.
Defense One is one of a number of experiments that Atlantic Media has run in niche publishing. Last year the company launched Quartz, a website dedicated to international business news. These moves make sense, as by virtue of publishing The Atlantic, the company has built up a stable of expert writers on these topics.
However, it’s interesting to note that Defense One and Quartz do a number of things that separate them from their older sibling. The design of both publications is optimized for mobile display (especially Quartz). And while both sites allow for commenting, readers need to “opt in” to see the comments. Finally, both sites are driven by sponsorships, not ads.
The net result are publications that clearly seem to be distancing themselves from the more “blog-like” appearance of The Atlantic, perhaps in order to cater to a more professional/specialist audience.
