The Guardian launches The Long Wave

The Guardian has today launched The Long Wave: a new newsletter delivering a weekly dose of Black life and culture around the world, written by Nesrine Malik and edited and co-written by Jason Okundaye.

Every Wednesday, The Guardian says The Long Wave brings together a broad range of experiences, discussions and events relevant to the global Black diaspora. It will offer original reporting, features and commentary across arts, business, sport, politics, environment and more.

The newsletter is a new space dedicated to exploring Black culture and conversations, both global and local, drawing on the journalism of the Guardian’s expanded network of correspondents in Africa, the US, the UK, South America, the Caribbean and elsewhere, added the publisher.

Nesrine Malik, lead author of The Long Wave, says: “Our ambition for The Long Wave is to create a regular space for readers where a wide range of stories is covered without being limited to the news cycle. We will discuss culture and shared experiences, but will also not shy away from challenging or intimate subjects. Featuring original analysis, reporting, commentary and interviews, The Long Wave is a newsletter for anyone interested in the commonalities of a large Black global community, as well as its differences.”

Jason Okundaye, assistant editor and co-writer of The Long Wave, says: “Many of the conversations we want to engage with in The Long Wave are often contained to social media or messaging groups. We want to start a meaningful dialogue with readers that will capture some of that energy, giving greater space to the topics that speak to, and matter most, within the global Black community.”

The Guardian says each week, The Long Wave will feature an authored introduction, a weekly round up of news highlights and an in-depth section focusing on a single topic of interest. There will also be other regular topics such as cultural recommendations, an exploration of Black history titled ‘Black Catalogue’ and a selection of reader responses in ‘Signal Boost’.

Last year, The Scott Trust set out a decade-long restorative justice programme to be carried out in consultation with descendant communities in the US, Jamaica, the UK and elsewhere, centred on long-term initiatives and meaningful impact, added The Guardian. One commitment included a new editorial format to better serve Black audiences. The publisher says The Long Wave newsletter will give these communities, and their stories, greater coverage, as well as improving diversity in the news media sector.

The Guardian says it has built a strong community of readers through its popular newsletters offering; from new launches such as The Long Wave, First Edition, Trump on Trial and This is Europe to redesigns of existing ones. The Guardian says it now has a total of 59 newsletters, with several million subscriptions across the portfolio and over four million unique subscribers.