The New Statesman has launched a live blog carrying the latest news updates about the coronavirus pandemic in a response to changing reader habits during the crisis.

The news magazine and website, which operates a partial paywall, will include on its new blog a morning briefing followed by timestamped live updates of breaking news to cover political, scientific and economic data and analysis in a single feed.

Editor in chief, Jason Cowley, told the Society of Editors (SoE) ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ and the crisis has caused the New Statesman to further invest in digital alternatives and opportunities afforded by the international news market.

The publication has recently expanded its focus on the worldwide market by hiring an America Editor and publishing a new World Review newsletter, with plans to launch a podcast of the same name.

The New Statesman established itself as a weekly political and cultural print magazine and has in recent years described itself as a print-digital hybrid, with digital traffic vastly outstripping its modest print circulation.

Cowley told the SoE: “As a consequence of the crisis, we have accelerated our digital expansion.

“Jeremy Cliffe, our international editor (formerly Brussels bureau chief at the Economist), has launched a new weekly newsletter, World Review; a podcast of the same name is to follow. We have appointed Emily Tamkin as our new America Editor; and David Ottewell has joined as our new group head of data journalism.

“This week we launched a new Covid-19 blog showcasing the most essential writing, reporting, analysis and data from across our networks – and we’ve been delighted with the response to it.

“This is a moment of crisis, of course, but necessity is the mother of invention. And we are innovating in exciting new ways as the New Statesman expands and internationalises as a print-digital hybrid committed to the finest writing and to explaining and analysing the defining issues of our times.”

View the New Statesman’s live blog here.