UK – The new media company aims to cut through the noise of modern news by focusing on slow journalism.
Plans for Tortoise were announced earlier in 2018 by James Harding, former director of BBC News. Having recently exceeded its Kickstarter target by over £400,000, the platform will launch in January 2019. It aims to strip back how people access and consume news at a time when the sector is increasingly crowded and overwhelming audiences with information across myriad digital channels.
To do this, Tortoise will host open news conferences called ThinkIns, which allow the public to contribute their opinions to a live conversation, informing and shaping the company’s point of view. It will also publish a daily digital newsfeed, running no more than five pieces a day, with each story tackling one subject in depth. Quarterly, Tortoise will combine its thinking into a small book of longer reads.
In an era of non-stop digital distraction, a more considered approach to journalism is needed. For more on why clickbait news is losing its influence, read our macrotrend The Focus Filter.