Dear Reader,
Or should I say "potential" reader. For what follows is not a fully formed magazine. Yet. X-Ray is an electronic magazine on Canadian politics and current affairs. At least that's what we aim to be. What you've just opened on your desktop (or iPad?) is a vision for something never before seen in Canadian media: a magazine of national scope, delivered bimonthly as a PDF file to your email inbox.*
Why?
We at X-Ray believe the time is ideal for an electronic magazine that covers stories of interest to Canadians who, like yourself, are turning to alternatives to corporate mainstream media. You're already reading content online---blogs, social networking sites, and newspapers that offer free content on the web. And you’re willing to pay for content you care about, or music and apps that catch your fancy. We intend to create a media product that provides investigative journalism, insightful analysis, and entertaining commentary in an attractive, compelling package. And we’re betting the bank that if we get it right you’ll be willing to pay for X-Ray. But more on that later.
This is X-Ray’s “soft launch”. What follows is a working blueprint of the magazine. We have much work to do. Over the course of the summer we will publish several trial issues, with content gleaned from a growing list of professional writers, commentators and hardworking pros in politics, media and the arts.
We’ll send you each trial issue for free. If you like what you're reading please forward X-Ray to friends, family and coworkers. Share that magazine and help us grow. And please send us your thoughts, opinions and criticism. We need to hear from you. We also need contributors. If you can help us or want to see your byline in X-Ray
email us today.
Happy Canada Day!
David Julian Wightman
Publisher slash Editor
davidjwightman@xraymagazine.ca
Special thanks to Tim Andries, whose photo "Oh Canada, Au Naturel" appears with permission on the cover. Tim's work can be found at
www.almosteric.ca.
*The first 15 issues of X-Ray were formatted in PDF and delivered by email.