The 'i' Newspaper review

I have been buying the 'i'paper from The Independent most days sice it's release.

 

I was an increasingly occasional reader of all papers but mostly a reader of none. This is because I get annoyed with biased opinions not in columns but in the articles themselves. Of course the Independent is supposed to be just that. But of course it is not unbiased. Granted its not overly influenced by it's proprietor (Alexander Lebedev) like other papers are. But the paper does have a feel of a left wing biased. I find The Independent isn't quite as bad as the other papers when it comes to the stories themselves. They also often do a little for and against outline which seems fair.

 

So why mention the Independent when reviewing the 'i' newspaper. Well the 'i' takes highlighted articles and opinions from the Indy and includes them in its 56 pages.

 

 

The layout

 

Upon opening the paper your see the News Matrix. You can get an instant glance at the headlines and the articles within the 'i'. Your also see the letter from the editor (Simon Kelner), which can be about anything although it is usually a defence or explanation of the 'i'paper (early days).

 

The Matrix is a fair amount of fun. Today (16th November) for example there is the celebrity fight club which gives a hand bag rating and also allows someone like myself (who knows nothing about celebrity) to at least cover my back in conversations at work. Today there is a list of the biggest ever bonuses and every day there are some nice touches just like this. As a fact man my really like Number of the day, which list facts and figures. For example today the numbers of the day are 2:1 ratio which new sellers of homes outstrip mortgage approvals, £40m the amount spent on lawyers by the MOD, 472,000 number of people employed by Tesco in its stores around the world, 16 the passages in George W Bush's memoir that have been alleged to be plagiarised.

 

The paper is split into News, Views, TV, IQ, Business and Sport and a page of games.The coloured contents table of page numbers is listed on the top of every page for ease. Most sections have their own matrix.

 

The news itself has a world section (Panorama) with short details on the world events, articles from the Indy and Caught *& social which is two pages of Caleb pictures and gossip. Everything in the paper is short and concise, you won't find any articles over two pages.

 

The views section has the Opinion Matrix, a from the blogosphere highlight and @i which is a letters page sent in by email, text,Twitter and Facebook. The views sections is contained within the News section and has a couple of Independent comment articles. The matrix here has short comment on the world news with a their view and our view for some of the topics (normally two).

 

TV section (centre pages) has a personal TV selector which simply highlights the evenings TV with comment on each split by program type. The bottom part has a listing of the main terrestrial channels plus Sky and another chosen channel. limited space has meant that satellite and radio programming is missing although there are highlights for both.

 

iQ is the other bits and pieces you normally expect to find in a paper such as health, fashion, music reviews and the arts. There are other little added extras such as ispy (Celebs again) and ibuy which is a small review of products an where to buy.

 

Business section again has a matrix and outlook forward by David Prosser, from the business pages which looks at world papers, buy sell for recommended share dealing, the diary and a small collection of city highlights including gobal indexes, sterling to Euro,Dollar gold price etc. There are no listings of share prices.

 

Sport has a handy sports matrix a few good Indy articles, results and fixtures but doesn't have a list of horse races like most papers only a 'Turf' section that covers horse racing but lacks detail.

 

Games section is on one page with Sudoku simple, intermediate, advanced, maths puzzle, crossword and throughout the whole paper I only found one conic strip.

 

 

Any good?

 

I think this paper is fulfilling the gap in the market it has identified. That gap is me and others like me. I don't have that much time to read a paper. I read online news on my Iphone, Watch 24 hour news but don't buy a paper and I'm active online mainly through the phone. What puts me of papers is the price (The 'i' is 20pence), The size and the heavy handed opinions. I don't feel the 'i' is forcing opinions down my throat or going for outrage. It's also nice to not be embarrassed by reading an article while having a pair of fine boobs glaring out from my paper.

 

The paper of course lacks detail, lacks games and lacks celebrity gossip, this is not a bad thing for everyone. So if you want that detail your going to have to upgrade to a more expensive paper. The 'i' makes up for it as I have the time to see the headlines and know some detail across a good range of stories. the paper is an easier read, rather than flicking through lots of paper. The selection of articles are interesting, well thought out and put together and not long SA's.

 

This papers knows you don't have time in this modern world so the matrix's throughout covers most of the detail. 'I just want to know what's going on' you cry and your find out quickly. This paper is designed with the online world in mind while not being online itself (apart from the Independent website).

 

This paper is not for everyone. If you want opinions that reinforce your view or you need to know more about Xfactor and need to see a pair of boobs or indeed want a paper that will use up your whole morning then this is not for you. If you get 'The Metro' because you like it rather then grabbing it because it's free and the only thing on offer then this is not for you.

 

If you want a quick read that is cheap and of decent quality I would recommend the 'i' paper. There aren't any morning paper alternative out there anyway and certainly not for 20p.

 

News efficiency 5/5 , Boobs 0/5