By Sree Sreenivasan
DNAinfo contributing editor
There is an endless supply of news sites that tell New Yorkers what's going on throughout your work day (none have DNAinfo's relentless focus on Manhattan local news, of course).
But today I want to point you to two sites that tell you what was going on while you slept — in the "overnight" news. Overnight is in quotations because time zones have lost their traditional meaning in today's globalized web world. What's overnight to a New Yorker is the middle of the day for a Londoner or a New Delhite.
WhileUSlept is the effort of a once-traditional journalist. The Starting Point is produced by one of the biggest brands on the Web. I read both every morning because they help me know what was happening around the world in an easy-to-digest format.
WhileUSlept.wordpress.com: Jeff Israely, a self-described "veteran Europe-based correspondent for Time magazine, turned New Media startup dude" has created a useful service for many of us Internet addicts. From his "About" page:
I select the Big 5 most relevant stories that have unfolded while North American readers were dreaming sweet dreams. It’s your head start on the next news cycle.
It is designed for info junkies, and the always plugged-in among us: a professionally selected and delivered bundle of All the News That’s Broken Since You Logged Off (or last checked your iPhone/blackberry) Last Night…
The idea of catering to people who check the news on their computers or mobile devices just before they go to bed and the first thing when they wake up is a brilliant one, and Israely does it well.
He has a 5:30 Eastern Time "Big 5 Business Stories Breaking Overnight" edition, followed by a 7:30 Eastern Time "Big 5 Stories Breaking Overnight" edition each morning.
Here are the headlines he covered Tuesday, June 8, each with a two- or three-line summary of the news, and a link to the original source:
IRAN WARNS RUSSIA AGAINST SANCTIONS (Reuters)
ISRAELI MILITARY INVESTIGATES FLOTILLA RAID (AP)
TWO NATO SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN (AFP)
PHOTOS OF KIM JONG-IL’S RECLUSIVE SON, HEIR, REVEALED (Telegraph)
TWIN ATTACKED BY FOX TRANSFERRED TO SPECIALIST HOSPITAL (AFP)
As you can see, WhileUSlept has a good mix of domestic and international stories aimed at US audiences and is designed to be a fast read.
This is part of Israely's larger effort to launch a news site, which he chronicles in Newslaunch Diary. That blog looks at "the nuts and bolts and high and lows of one ever eager 41-year-old journalist’s best shot at building a global news site with age-old standards and brand new eyes."
You can get WhileUSlept in multiple ways: the blog, Twitter, and Facebook.
Instead of five quick headlines with a short blurb, Yahoo! Starting Point highlights stories in a more narrative style. Here, for example, the lead
item for Tuesday, June 8:
Top story overnight: Search and rescue operations are underway after a packed ferry capsized in northeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday, AFP reported. The ferry was used by hundreds of children in the remote area to get to school every day. At the time of this writing, at least 12 people, including 10 children, have drowned in the accident. An estimated 60 to 70 other passengers are still missing.
It was followed up by other news — including an item about Joran Van der Sloot's reported confession to a muder in Peru and a look at the "most read overnight" (which presumably comes from Yahoo!'s internal metrics) stories — including a story about four Russian soldiers accused of stealing bank cards from the wreckage of the flight that killed Poland's president in April.
You can get The Starting Point in multiple ways: the web and by signing up for an e-mail here; it no longer has its own Twitter feed, but here is the Yahoo News Twitter feed and Facebook page.
But which service to choose? I'd suggest trying both for a while to see which service gives you the best view of what happened in the world while you were sleeping.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments or via Twitter @sreenet.
Each Monday, DNAinfo contributing editor Sree Sreenivasan, a Columbia Journalism School professor, shares his observations about the changing media landscape.
