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It’s the paper most journalists would love to write.
Unfettered by political or geographically constrained editorial policy (ish), i sets its writers free from the use of conventional journalese (those slick phrases that surreptitiously smooth the rhythm of most newspaper stories) and talks to its readers in the language we all really use. The stripped out, slimmed down, just 20p, daily newspaper that covers the hot topics without the rest of the baggage.

i, the newest national newspaper, has been launched in the maelstrom of the post-recession bonfire which has seen thousands of journalists lose their jobs, countless papers and magazines fold, and the internet continually hailed as sounding the death knell for the printed rag.

Can this simple format, with a delightfully sarcastic tone, survive in a world with Twitter, Facebook, 4 Square and myriad more? It will be interesting to see how the paper fares in the long term and whether other national names will follow suit (g, t, m, x…?), indeed the question seems to be is the Inde team being brave, naïve, or pre emptive…

One week on from the first edition hitting the news stands, all seems well. i is filling the gap between the heavy broadsheets (physically, with all those supplements), and the celebrity-obsessed tabloids and the thinly veiled –isms of the qual-tabs.

i’s matrix – an extended index giving readers a snippet of what’s to come in the rest of the section – is a neat little device giving an overview of the big stories of the day, in similar vein to the free commuter Metro. Turn another page and those same stories are explored in a little more depth, for those readers with more than 10 minutes to skim the headlines.

What’s lovely is the stories appear to be those that genuinely interest the writers. Often they are worthy tales also covered by other news organisations, which are referred to by name. It’s as if the journalists sat down for coffee with the day’s papers and chatted about their fave stories from the last 24 hours, and let us join them for the debate. It’s a welcome attitude that gives the reader a more rounded view of the news, rather than the jealous one-upmanship that so often dominates British papers and can be so off putting.

Parts of i are effectively one giant re-tweet. And that could be the secret to its success.

When our general diet of news is fed by scrolling tickertapes, internet searches and social media, this newspaper is taking the concept and turning it into its USP. While print snobs (I count myself as one) will never agree the newspaper has had its day, and the in-depth analysis they offer has no rival, there can be no argument that it is under attack from many fronts. What better way, then, to defend the medium than by cleverly taking on the young pretenders at their own game. The simple, fun attitude which seems to be behind i is encouraging and will hopefully see it gain enough followers to see it thrive.