Appealing to roots with The Root

The Washington Post is launching an online magazine for black audiences, reports The New York Times.

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. of African and African-American studies shall act as editor-in-chief for the publication, entitled The Root. Well-known writers like Malcolm Gladwell will also contribute.

WaPo expects The Root to appeal to an upscale audience, differentiating it from Ebony and other titles. There will also be links to tools and sites where visitors can trace family trees and establish ancestry.

Online publications still enjoy just a fraction of the spending that print titles do, but expectations are high that the site will be profitable with time.