Murdoch launches iPad newspaper 'The Daily'

Afp
Wednesday 02 February 2011 01:00 GMT
Comments

News Corp.

's Rupert Murdoch unveiled "The Daily" on Wednesday, a digital newspaper created specially for the iPad that will be sold through Apple's online store and cost 99 cents a week.

"New times demand new journalism," the 79-year-old News Corp. chairman and chief executive said as took the wraps off The Daily at a press event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Murdoch, who was joined on stage by Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Services at iPad maker Apple, praised the touchscreen tablet computer as an "incredible new platform" and said The Daily would provide a "fresh new voice."

The Daily would combine the latest technology with "shoe leather reporting, good editing and a skeptical eye," he said. "The Daily will be the model of how stories are told and consumed."

Murdoch said The Daily is aimed at a "growing segment of the population that is educated and sophisticated but does not read a national paper.

"But they do consume media," he said. "And they expect content tailored to their specific interest available anytime, anywhere."

The Daily will cost 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp., News Corp. hired about 100 people to work on The Daily, including journalists from the New Yorker, Forbes, the New York Post and other publications.

News Corp. has budgeted 30 million dollars for the first year of the launch, according to Forbes.

The Daily is Murdoch's latest attempt to find a way to charge readers for content online in an era of shrinking newspaper circulation and eroding print advertising revenue.

The Wall Street Journal requires a subscription for full access to WSJ.com and Britain's The Times and The Sunday Times, two other News Corp. newspapers, recently erected pay walls around their websites.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in