Today we are pleased to announce a complete relaunch of Slate’s news blog, “The Slatest.”Slate has a long tradition of giving readers smart summaries of the stories that matter, going back to our “Today’s Papers” feature, which began in 1997. The new Slatest is the 2011 grandchild of this concept. We will present our readers with sharp, quick takes on the essential news of the day, whether it’s an uprising in the Middle East, a showdown at a presidential debate, or some veddy, veddy important nuptials in the U.K. The items will also be updated regularly to reflect the fact that the news is rarely static. You can trust that The Slatest will be on it.
We’re also happy to announce that the talented Josh Voorhees, who comes to Slate from Politico, where he wrote the “Morning Energy” newsletter, will head The Slatest.
What else is new about the new Slatest?
- Our most recent version of The Slatest featured three daily editions that rounded up the morning, afternoon, and evening news. In the new Slatest, we’ll give readers a continuous stream of news items, adding stories on a rolling basis as they pop onto the radar. This will give us the ability to keep you up to the minute and to stay on top of breaking news.
- We’ve created an image-rich presentation on the new Slatest home page, and the items themselves will be full of relevant photos and videos.
- Under our top headlines on the Slatest home page, you will see our custom-designed “Slate Stream.” This tool aggregates all of the social activity that is taking place on Slateand gives you updates inreal time. We’ll highlight the Slate stories that are being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, and the ones that are attracting a lot of readers and commenters on the site. This will give you insight about what items Slate readers are talking about, and hopefully you’ll be inspired to add your own two cents.
- Slatest items are primed for social sharing and commenting. Follow The Slatest on Twitter here and become a fan on Facebook. The Slatest used to send out three newsletters per day—one for each daily edition—but we will now consolidate those newsletters into one. All current Slatest newsletter subscribers will receive a daily weekday edition, and you can sign up for it here.
- We’re really proud of the new features in the right rail of the page. Our highlighted video module will often feature Slate’s own “Trending News Channel,” which tells the stories behind the hottest search trends. The “What We’re Reading Now” box will shine a spotlight on great stories around the web. We’ll also have a module where you can view which items across Slate have been the “Most Read” or “Most Shared.”
We hope you’ll check out The Slatest and become a regular reader. Let us know what you think of the new look and feel in the comments.
