Scratching a niche

The Washington Post Co., which already owns the politics-and-culture webzine Slate, has unveiled another niche online publication. The Root, aimed at African-Americans and co-founded with Henry Louis Gates Jr., is a high-quality attempt to blend journalism and geneology, according to this story in the New York Times. It's a way for the Post to pull in new readers who might not be interested in the newspaper, and it's a smart strategy.