New view on New Day

New newspapers are few and far between – the new London freebies a few years ago couldn’t compete with the Evening Standard, and the Independent has recently announced a move to online-only at the end of this month.

New Day – the first new national newspaper in 30 years – previewed with a freebie yesterday for Leap Day, and now is on news stands for 25p, although will creep up for 50p a day after two weeks.

The paper has been quick to outline that its content is designed to sit alongside the news that exists immediately online. The editor, Alison Philips, has been repeatedly quoted stating that where traditional newspapers fall down is expecting people to read the news in print that they have already seen unfold online 24 hours previously.

It isn’t a bad proposition. However, we hope that New Day doesn’t fall into the trap of just covering what other people have said about things online. There is a smattering of this, but generally it does feel uplifting, and is packed with ideas and advice to try, buy, read, cook and more – the opportunities for PRs certainly look good.

So what do we think, and what are you missing out on if you haven’t seen it yet.

Let’s start with what we don’t like – the pictures from celebrity social feeds, erm no thanks. And the ‘life hack’ break out boxes include top tips such as not leaving the tap on when you brush your teeth. There’s definitely a stating-the-bleedin obvious tone that implies the paper is – at times – designed for someone who has never seen a newspaper before.

And what we do like – the signposting of ‘if you just read one thing today…’ highlights a decent piece of journalism and a strong, important story rather than concentrating on some of the lighter bits that fill many pages. There are debate style pieces giving different opinions on stories such as the snoopers charter and the EU referendum. And the lay out is fresh, definitely more magazine in style, and quick and easy to read and take in key points. The quick ‘3 minute updates’ give a snapshot of news, a little like checking the ‘most read’ column on the BBC website.

Oh, and you cannot fail to love the page dedicated to things to make you smile.

It is definitely an optimistic paper, and one that assumes – probably rightly so – that its readers want a little snapshot of the world, to know a little about something they won’t see on the 10 o’clock news, but mostly to look at pictures of cute dogs and learn how to have a more fun in life. If you want to talk to commuters it feels like the paper for you. Given the upbeat tone, and hard-stuff light-stuff mix there is a suggestion that the title is trying to deliver news to people who don’t like news.

But so far, it’s really not that bad – we look forward to the next New Day.