The Politico, a new weekly newspaper that will provide in-depth coverage of the political/lobbying scene, launched yesterday to modest fanfare.
Interestingly, The Politico will take a sort of hybrid approach to distributing its content. They don't seem to be aiming to attract a large print circulation. They will distribute around 25,000 print copies of the weekly paper to various DC types at $3.50 a pop (I've got a copy of the first issue here). Presumably, the print edition will feature long form, deep dive type of stories (it does so far).
But most folks will read the paper through its website, www.politico.com. The website appears to feature most of the content from the print edition, as well as timely, breaking news and a variety of blogs. This strategy seems right to me.
Anyway, here's a breakdown of the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of The Politico's website.
The Good
"Reading a story should be just as interesting as talking with a reporter over a sandwich or a beer. It is a curiosity of journalism that this often isn't true. The traditional newspaper story is written with austere, voice-of-God detachment. These newspaper conventions tend to muffle personality, humor, accumulated insight – all the things readers hunger for as they try to make sense of the news and understand what politicians are really like. Whenever we can, we'll push against these limits."
Exactly.
On the negative side, I don't really like the design of this section. I wish they had gone with the proven Reddit and Digg model here. Also, Capitol Hill staffers and other DC-types are going to become obsessed with gaming this (see what they've tried to do with Wikipedia). Still, just a great idea and it will be fun to watch.
The Bad
The Ugly
Newspaper sites really need to do a better job of highlighting older content.
In summary, I like The Politico. The people behind this are clearly smart folks who understand the pro
blems the newspaper industry is facing. But at this point in terms of the web, I think at this point the concept is a lot better than the execution. But it's the first week, so it'll be interesting to see how things develop.
As a side note, I think the print version looks a lot better than the website. What do you think?
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