I was the founding editor-in-chief of a slow news experiment called Evening Edition, created by Jim Ray and Mule Design. I started by writing the San Francisco edition five days a week. I then hired a journalist in London and another in Paris, and edited them both.
Every day at 5 pm, Anna Rascouët-Paz, who till recently was a reporter with Bloomberg, pushes the publish button on summaries of some of the more important stories that were making news during the day. Olympics, Syria, Presidential politics… anything except the latest feature upgrade of a marginal app. The crisp, clean and well-written posts are backed by a simple, legible design that is easy to read on your iPhone (or any other smartphone or tablet.)
(…)
A few days later, I am actually addicted to The Evening Edition. Like Dave Pell’s Next Draft, The Evening Edition has become my daily must read. It is smart and succinct. It personifies what a mobile-first publication should be. What works is the choice of stories Rascouët-Paz makes and how she writes about the news, says Monteiro.
As for substance, it’s like the site’s news editor, Anna Rascouët-Paz, secretly knows all the important stuff I either didn’t encounter or shamefully skipped over to read another Apple rumor.
Rascouët-Paz boils down complex topics well enough to keep you informed, but also whets your appetite to click through to her sources and get more information. Her summaries contain more rapid-fire facts and quotes than most of what you’ll find in the newspaper, and that’s a very welcome change.
In the four months since launch the group has expanded with editions in Paris and London. Though a North American expansion would have seemed natural, Ray and Monteiro liked that many miles and time zones separated each edition, which would help steer readers toward reading at night as intended. But expansion was also guided by the past of least resistance thanks to Rascouët-Paz’s connections and ability to find editors in those cities, Rascouët-Paz says.