The name and existence were confirmed during an interview with Fox Business Network where Murdoch claimed The Daily to be one of the company’s most “exciting projects” (along with the relaunch of MySpace we assume).
Unfortunately the Australian mogul wouldn’t go into specifics but a piece recently published in US elite fashion industry journal Women’s Wear Daily, described The Daily as “tabloid sensibility with a broadsheet intelligence.”
What may come as a bigger surprise is that The Guardian is claiming the project is a collaboration between Murdoch and Apple’s Steve Jobs. That’s the first we’ve heard of Jobs’ involvement and so until we hear confirmation from Apple itself, we’re not convinced. We’re sceptical because you would assume Jobs would be aware of the flood of “conflict of interest” complaints from competing iPad publications if Apple were to invest in a publication for a platform it entirely controls.
A staff of over 100 have reportedly been lined up for the project with three managing editors: Mike Nizza, a veteran of The New York Times, AOL News and The Atlantic; Steve Alperin, a producer at ABC News, and Pete Picton, an online editor at UK Newspaper, The Sun. While the focus will be on old-school reporting, there’ll be a sizeable video and design team as well.
The Daily is expected to cost 99 cents a week, or about $4.25 a month and will reportedly launch in beta mode sometime around Christmas. No print or web edition of Daily will be available, only iPad and tablet versions – potentially one of these.
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Murdoch began his career with a single newspaper and is Chief Executive of News Corp., the third largest media conglomerate in the world, generating revenues in excess of US$30 billion per year. While the company operated hundreds of publications, television channels, and websites around the world, Murdoch has made no secret of newspapers being his one true obsession. Lets hope he doesn’t die trying to save them.
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