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Early starts and earnest chats – ‘News junkie’ excited to be The Spinoff’s Bulletin Editor
Stewart Sowman-Lund takes the reins as The Spinoff's Bulletin editor
Despite having to wake up before 5am to start work, journalist Stewart Sowman-Lund is having a blast two days into his new role as The Spinoff’s Bulletin editor.
Containing the top stories from around Aotearoa, both on The Spinoff and beyond, The Bulletin is a curated email newsletter that drops into subscribers’ inboxes after 7am every week day.
Sowman-Lund has made the move to editor from his former role at The Spinoff as live updates editor – and as a self-confessed news junkie, Bulletin editor was definitely a position he was aiming for.
In his new role, he uses his afternoons to identify the main news threads for the Bulletin, and then those early hours from 5am finding relevant commentary to pull the whole piece together, before sending it off at 7am.
The curated nature of the newsletter means that it acts like a conversation about current events in Aotearoa between the reader and the Bulletin editor, says Sowman-Lund.
“It’s clearly written by the Bulletin editor, so there is that relationship of trust between us.
“And if that’s your only engagement with the news for the day, then it gives you a good feel for the talking points – the crucial details with some analysis and opinion.”
Readers can easily get in touch with the editor, and Sowman-Lund says this is encouraged, as is sharing the newsletter with friends and whānau.
The unknown is what he’s most excited about in this new role – the fact that he won’t know in advance what he’ll be writing about until the day itself: “I find that exhilarating,” says Sowman-Lund.
