If I’d ever even heard of Axios before the Trump-Jonathan Swan interview, I’ve forgotten about it. But prompted by Swan’s smart, incisive one-on-one, I’ve checked out axios.com and find it refreshing, serious, and worth a deeper dive as a quality news source.

I’ve chosen to receive a handful of Axios newsletters and podcasts to review, but for starters, I’m taken with their stated mission, manifesto, and guiding principles:

1. Audience first: “Data shows readers, viewers and listeners all want one thing in their news — unbiased content they can trust, delivered in an efficient and interesting manner….” They got that right, and they didn’t even ask me.
2. Elegant efficiency: Emphasizing tech that gets you what you want as fast as possible without distractions like pop-up ads. (Arghh)
3. Smart, always: Smart reporting for smart readers, fast.
4. No BS for sale: Respecting the professional firewall that is supposed to exist between the j-school grads and the b-school grads, while applying sensible and ethical rules to who can advertise and what they can say.
5. Excellence, always: Media is a business. Axios differentiates by quality delivery on its promises.

This is what they say. Looking forward to seeing how they do it. Thanks, Jonathan Swan, for the lead.