• FT.com, Monday, October 6, 2008 11:30 AM

Print journalism has lost yet another devotee to the Web, and this time it's a biggie. Tine Brown, celebrated former editor of The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Talk, today launches the beta version of her first digital magazine, The Daily Beast. The trial version of the site is being funded by IAC.

The site is perhaps most comparable to the Huffington Post, not only for having a sometimes controversial female editor of European descent, but for its format: a collection of blog items on popular culture and politics penned by celebrities mixed with links to news and features around the Web. The inaugural "issue" features contributions from Nigella Lawson, the British celebrity chef; Christopher Buckley, the US satirist; and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born Dutch politician.

The site, edited by Edward Felsenthal, a former Wall Street Journal deputy managing editor, will target "higher end advertisers . . . who have a natural affinity with publications where Tina worked before," said Caroline Marks, general manager of the site and a former Comcast Interactive Media executive.

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