Welcome to the Alaska Newsreader , a new way to bring you news and info about what’s going on in Alaska.
The idea’s pretty simple. Every morning, we’ll give you a quick-read summary of what’s news in and for Alaska - not just in the ADN but from every source we can find, whether it’s the Nome Nugget or the New York Times.
The goal is to have something online by 9 a.m., Alaska time, every weekday. You can sign up for a morning e-mail that summarizes what's there (sent by 10 a.m.). It's also available by RSS feed .
We’re not just talking conventional this-happened-yesterday news, although there will surely be plenty of that. Part of our goal is also to help guide you to what’s interesting out there online having to do with Alaska, whether it’s a YouTube video from seal hunters in Barrow or the latest on the political corruption scandal or simply someone describing their life in the Last Frontier.
How’s this different from a news aggregator like Google News or topix.net? Here's the big one: it's not being produced by a robot. There’s a live Alaskan on the other end here who’s sifting through a pile Alaska news every day, so you don’t have to. We have rotated who produces the Newsreader since we launched it in March. I’m the paper’s local and state news editor and I was the first one to do it; right now, it’s being produced every day by Terry Carr, a longtime Alaska journalist who’s taking a hiatus from his regular job as the night assistant city editor.
Our hope is that this will be interactive - that it’s not just us giving you what we’re finding, but you passing along what you think is interesting and that other people might want to see. Since we launched the Newsreader in March, we've heard from lots of you. We hope that continues.
The daily morning rundown is on the left side of the screen. Down the right side is a more eclectic set of sections with links: Alaska online videos; a section we call “Alaska, Etc.” containing intersting blog posts or other items we think are worth a look; and a collection of those bizarre, only-in-Alaska stories we all love, under the heading “Weird Alaska.”
How's it fit in with the rest of adn.com? We won’t rehash everything found elsewhere on the site or in the paper, but that doesn't mean we won't mention ADN stories. The goal here is to give you a one-stop summary of what's news and what's interesting about Alaska. It'll tend to have a little more a statewide focus and be less Anchorage-centric than the main paper.
For some, the Newsreader might be a supplement to the main page of adn.com or the print paper. For others, it could be a starting point.
We want to hear from you. We want you sending me links to interesting blog entries, videos, anything out there you think more people need to see or would get a kick out of seeing. We’re always happy to hear feedback about the site. What’s useful to you? How can we improve it?
Thanks for stopping by.
David Hulen
E-mail us here .
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