• by Shankar Gupta , August 22, 2006

MSNBC.com will begin posting content from the National Journal, including articles that previously were available only to paid subscribers, as part of a planned re-launch of MSNBC.com's politics section.

The revamped section, slated to go live on Sept. 7, also will include information from the Almanac of American Politics, as well as candidate profiles and race rankings, organized on an interactive map on the site.

Hank Boye, general manager of the National Journal Group, said that the paper hoped to gain new readers with the deal. "We'd love to write for a broader audience, and use a small part of our content to reach them," he said. "The idea of being able to take a stab at writing compelling edit for a much larger audience is worth checking out."

Jennifer Sizemore, editor in chief of MSNBC, added that she expected the National Journal's articles and columns, like The Hotline, to bolster the site's political offerings. "Anyone who's a political junkie knows National Journal and reads The Hotline, and I've always coveted that kind of content," she said. "They have tons of research, and have great background and profiles of candidates all across the country."

Sizemore said the redesign would not add any new advertising space to the politics section, and that MSNBC's ad sales team would be responsible for selling into the inventory.