“It is only right that you as colleagues at News International are first to hear what I have to say and that you hear it directly from me. So thank you very much for coming here and listening.”

- Rebekah Brooks

It’s the end of the (News of the) World

July 7th 2011: the day the plug was pulled on the News of the World (NotW). Irrespective of your views on the newspaper and the style of journalism on which it thrived, it was a pretty dismal end for the 168-year old publication. It was a national institution, but for it to end so spectacularly was indicative of the crimes with which it was charged.

It had long been established that many stories covered by NotW were sourced from phone-hacking – but it was just celebrities, so that was fine, right? That’s a matter of opinion. But when it emerged that the mobile phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler had likely been accessed by an investigator acting on behalf of the newspaper, there was really no way back.

Some argued that ending The News of the World was like a lamb to the slaughter for the Murdoch empire, an attempt to salvage its bid to take over lucrative British TV, phone and ISP company BSkyB. But a week after NotW was dead, so was the BSkyB deal. Others argued that it was to save the Murdochs’ beloved Rebekah Brooks, the former NotW Editor, News International Chief Executive and a close friends of News Corporation’s main men.

When Rupert and James Murdoch faced MPs’ questions on July 19th, they both jumped to Brooks’ defence, with Rupert saying: “I believed her, I trusted her and I still trust in her”. When asked whether the News of the World was closed to save Brooks, Rupert answered: “The two decisions are totally unrelated. The paper was closed because it had violated the trust of our readers”.

The newspaper may have been pulled as quickly as it was to try to push the BSkyB deal through, but advertisers were deserting in their droves and condemnations were coming from all angles – readers, non-readers, politicians, other newspapers…everywhere. The Murdochs knew there was no way back for The News of the World, which is why killing it was an easy decision for them to reach. If it could buy them brownie points elsewhere, that was a bonus.

And now, with news emerging that the mother of murdered 8-year old Sarah Payne may also have fallen victim to phone-hacking by a private investigator acting on behalf of the NotW, the end of this sorry saga is nowhere in sight.

There have already been some fall-guys in the phone-hacking scandal, but with fingers continuing to be pointed, it’s worth taking a look at where we are, how we got here and who the main people involved have been. Here’s an attempt to make some sense of the Murdoch mess.

The People: Who’s who

Some of these names you’ll know very well, some not so. But everyone here has been involved in some way with the phone hacking scandal. Here, we set out to see who’s who and what role they may, or may not, have played in events. And it’s these people who hold the key to whether we ever really find out who was responsible for what.

• Rupert Murdoch (aged 80)

Founder and CEO of News Corporation (founded 1979), the world’s second largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue (after Disney) and the parent company of News International, which owned the News of the World until its demise in early July.

Rupert’s role in the scandal is yet to be determined, with many arguing that as CEO he must have been aware that phone-hacking was going on. And if he didn’t know, why didn’t he know? He’s also the father of James Murdoch (below).

• James Murdoch (aged 38)

Son of News Corporation’s founder, James Murdoch is CEO and Chairman, Europe and Asia, at News Corporation. He has held this position since December 2007. However he first joined News Corporation in 1996 as Chairman of Festival Records. He subsequently held a number of positions, including Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation’s ailing Asian satellite service Star Television, for which he moved to Hong Kong in May 2000.

James became a director at BSkyB in early 2003, a company in which News Corporation owns a controlling minority stake, before becoming CEO later that year. He stepped down as CEO at BSkyB in December 2007, becoming non-executive chairman instead, and moving to his current position at the corporation. In February 2009, James Murdoch was also appointed as non-executive director at GlaxoSmithKline, a pharmaceutical company.

As with his father Rupert, James’ role in the phone-hacking scandal isn’t clear, though naturally as such a senior figure in the corporation, people have suggested that he must’ve known what was going on at the News of the World. Though given his lack of frequent, direct contact with that particular publication, he has thus far managed to keep at arm’s length from direct association in the scandal.

• Rebekah Brooks (aged 43)

Brooks is one of the key people in the whole phone-hacking fiasco. In her role as Editor at the News of the World from 2000 until 2003, she was, in theory, directly responsible for everything that happened at the newspaper. Brooks moved to an Editor’s position at the Sun newspaper in 2003, where she remained until 2009 when she moved to the Chief Executive’s role at News International.

Whilst Brooks continues to deny any knowledge of phone-hacking, particularly in the Milly Dowler case, allegations that she knew what was going on persist. Brooks was arrested in July 2011.

• Andy Coulson (aged 43)

Coulson replaced Brooks (then Wade) as Editor at the News of the World in January 2003. He resigned in 2007 over phone hacking allegations which had led to the imprisonment of another reporter at the newspaper. Six months after his resignation, Coulson joined the UK Conservative Party as Director of Communications. And in May 2010, after David Cameron had become Prime Minister, Coulson was appointed Director of Communications for the government.

Coulson resigned in January 2011 due to mounting pressure in the phone hacking affair, relating back to his time as Editor at the News of the World. He said “when the spokesperson needs a spokesperson, it’s time to move on”.

As with Brooks before him, Coulson’s direct responsibilities at the News of the World has led many to believe that he knew more than he is letting on. Indeed, others who have admitted to knowing about the phone-hacking have claimed that Coulson definitely did know, such as Sean Hoare (below). Coulson was arrested on July 8, 2011, over fresh allegations of payments being made to police officers in exchange for information in several cases.

• Glenn Mulcaire (aged 40)

The private investigator at the centre of the phone hacking scandal. Mulcaire was jailed for six months in January 2007 for intercepting the phone calls of aides to the UK royal family on behalf of the News of the World. Mulcaire’s role in the scandal is straightforward as he has admitted his actions, though he claims not to have known his actions were illegal. He hasn’t spoken publicly about the more recent allegations relating to Milly Dowler’s phone-hacking.

• Sean Hoare (died, aged 47)

Sean Hoare was an entertainment journalist who moved to the News of the World in June 2001, working under Rebekah Brooks. He was sacked in 2005 by Andy Coulson because of his drink and drug problems.

Hoare’s role in the phone-hacking scandal is notable for two reasons. Firstly, he has admitted to being complicit in phone hacking whilst at the News of the World. And secondly, he states that former Editor Andy Coulson absolutely knew that phones were being hacked and actively encouraged it.

As noted in a New York Times article last September, he said he was revealing his own part in the scandal – which included breaking into the messages of celebrities – because he felt it was unfair for the paper to pin the blame solely on Clive Goodman (below).

Sean Hoare was found dead on July 17th 2011, in what police described as ‘unexplained, but not suspicious’ circumstances. As a willing whistleblower in the case, Hoare’s testimony up until that point was the first direct evidence of widespread knowledge of phone-hacking at the newspaper, and he had vowed to help with any further enquiries.

• Clive Goodman (aged 53)

Clive Goodman is a former reporter and royal editor at the News of the World. He was jailed, alongside private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, for four months in January 2007. He has admitted intercepting mobile phone messages involving members of the Royal household.

He was arrested again on July 8th 2011, along with Andy Coulson, over alleged payments made to police officers for information whilst at the News of the World.

• Ian Edmondson (aged 42)

Ian Edmondson was hired by the News of the World in November 2004. He was brought on board by Neil Wallis (below), who was Andy Coulson’s deputy editor, and was promoted by Coulson to assistant editor of the news department in October 2005.

Edmondson was fired by the News of the World in January 2011 over allegations of his involvement in phone hacking. He was arrested in April this year, alongside former reporter Neville Thurlbeck (below), for intercepting voicemail messages.

• Neville Thurlbeck (aged 50)

Thurlbeck is chief reporter at the News of the World, and was arrested alongside Ian Edmondson in April this year. He hasn’t been sacked yet, and it seems he’s been suspended on full pay until the case is heard in September this year.

An e-mail, titled ‘For Neville’, is key evidence in the phone hacking scandal. It was sent to Thurlbeck by another reporter, and contained 35 voicemail message transcripts, despite Thurlbeck having previous denied any knowledge of phone-hacking. Lawyers representing Gordon Taylor, the Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), who sued News International after he was hacked in 2007, released this email to News International at the time. The company didn’t dismiss Thurlbeck.

• Neil Wallis (aged 60)

Wallis joined News International in 1986, eventually becoming Deputy Editor of The Sun in 1993. He left that role in 1998, taking up editorship at a rival newspaper, before becoming Deputy Editor at the News of the World in 2003, then Executive Editor in 2007. He left the newspaper in late 2009.

Neil Wallis was the ninth person to be arrested over phone-hacking allegations, and was taken in for questioning in mid-July 2011. He is also accused of paying police officers for information. He was a key senior figure at the newspaper during the period when much of the alleged phone-hacking took place, so his role in activities will come under greater scrutiny in the months ahead.

• Les Hinton (aged 67)

Les Hinton is a British-American journalist and businessman who worked for Rupert Murdoch for the best part of half a century. He held the position of CEO at Dow Jones and Company (publisher of the Wall Street Journal) from 2007, after it was acquired by News Corporation. Hinton was head of News International from 1997 to 2005, a key period in the phone-hacking scandal.

On July 15, Les Hinton resigned from his position at Dow Jones and Company, but maintained that he knew nothing of phone-hacking. This was a key moment too, as it shows that the scandal at the News of the World is starting to have a wider-reaching impact, and attention is now being falling across News Corporation.

In mid-July, it was revealed that FBI was probing claims that the News of the World attempted to hack the victims and families involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• Other figures…

There are, of course, other key figures embroiled in the case. There are Sir Paul Stephenson, John Yates and Andy Hayman from the Metropolitan police, whose close associations with News International journalists and executives have led many to suspect that the relationships were a little too close to maintain a professional level of conduct. Hayman, for example, confirmed that he had received hospitality from people he was investigating in relation to criminal offenses.

And there are politicians too, such as Prime Minister David Cameron who is facing increasing criticism for employing Andy Coulson, despite suspicions of his involvement in phone-hacking.

A lot of people are facing the heat in what could just be the beginning of a massive expose of corruption at News International, News Corporation and the media on the whole.

One rogue company? Not likely.

Like many people, I suspect we’ve only just scratched the surface in the phone-hacking scandal. What was initially portrayed as one rogue reporter working in cahoots with an ethically challenged private investigator, now seems highly unlikely. Whilst it seems that phone-hacking may have been routine at the News of the World, it’s perfectly plausible that it was an accepted practice across the board at many publications. In fact, that’s very likely.

In a New York Times piece last year, there’s this telling quote relating to how reporters would access voicemail messages:

“The first would engage the phone line, forcing the second call into voice mail. A reporter then punched in the code to hear messages, often deleting them to prevent access by rival papers.”

So if the News of the World was willing to hack telephones, it’s likely many others have carried out similar actions too. Last week, James Hipwell, a former financial journalist at the UK’s Daily Mirror newspaper, said that phone-hacking was widespread at the publication. He also alleged that other titles at Trinity Mirror, such as the People, were guilty of phone-hacking. He has offered to give evidence in the public inquiry ordered by David Cameron.

Furthermore, Operation Motorman was an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in 2003, into allegations of offenses by the UK press. Police investigating the current phone-hacking scandal have already requested files from this earlier investigation, and these files detail as many as 4,000 requests for confidential information from a private investigator, made by 300 journalists working for 31 publications. Much of the information was obtained illegally.

The ICO released a report in 2006 called What privacy now? The first six months progress in halting the unlawful trade in confidential personal information. It found that the Daily Mail was the biggest offender, identifying 952 transactions with private investigators by 58 journalists at the newspaper. The Sunday People came second.

It’s important to stress that these don’t amount to phone-hacking, which is a clear-cut criminal offense. Contraventions of the Data Protection Act, which is what these other offenses would fall under, can sometimes be justified if there is a strong public interest. But the ICO investigation found that many didn’t have significant public interest.

If this highlights anything, it’s that the News of the World wasn’t the only publication to hold questionable journalistic ethics.

At this moment, there are likely a number of nervous hacks sweating, fingers crossed, hoping their own previous endeavors don’t catch up with them. Though I believe it’s only a matter of time before others are implicated, both in the UK and further afield.

The future for News Corporation…and why Murdoch will go

Speculation that Rupert Murdoch may step down as CEO of News Corporation has been doing the rounds. But when asked by MPs whether he would be next to resign, he was adamant that he would stay on and take the company forward:

“People I trusted let me down. I think they behaved disgracefully. They let me and the company down, I’m the best person to lead the company forward.”

The reason why Murdoch will go is quite simple. When he faced MPs questions, what he apparently didn’t know about his own company was quite telling. He didn’t seem like a captain in control of his ship, and he had no idea about key events in the recent history of the company.

If he genuinely is that frail and dithering, then shareholders will demand that he be removed because he’s not fit to front such a large corporation. If it was all a ruse to get support back on-side, well, he most certainly should be removed too because he can’t be trusted.

But he has built the company over a long time, it’s his ‘little’ baby, so I don’t think he will go quietly. However, as News Corporation’s name continues to be dragged through the mire, with more and more people’s being brought into the action, the buck will eventually stop with Rupert and he will have no option but to stand down.

In an attempt to save News Corporation, either Rupert, or his successor, may choose to sell off the newspaper side of its business altogether. Most of its revenue comes from other sources anyway, such as 20th Century Fox, so it would make sense to sever all ties with its newspapers, thus distancing itself from any more damage from the phone-hacking scandal. If the scandal remains within the UK-side of its operations, then this sale could be limited to its three remaining UK newspapers – the Times, Sunday Times and the Sun. But two things are almost certain – Murdoch will go, and News Corporation will downsize – to what degree, remains to be seen.

At its launch event earlier this month, Murdoch said he expected The Daily to be on all major tablets in the future, but was quoted saying that “last year, this year and maybe next year belong to iPad.”

So it is a bit surprising to hear that the “iPad newspaper” could appear on tablets like Motorola’s XOOM in just a few months time.

For now The Daily is sold exclusively through the Apple store.

Read here for Everything You Need to Know About the Daily’s Launch.

With $30 million invested in it, does it deliver on the huge amount hype and expectation built up around it? Here are my first impressions.

The launch event said all the right things

Watching The Daily’s live video streamed launch today, it was hard not to be impressed as a product was announced that appeared to answer many of the criticisms levelled at iPad magazine and newspaper apps to date.

It’s cheap: Many iPad magazines and online news subscriptions are criticised for being too expensive – they simply don’t pass on savings in production brought about by not having a physical distribution network to customers. News Corp is passing on these savings in production costs by charging just 14 cents per day, $1 per week or $39 per year.

It’s ambitious: As an operation, there are no toes being dipped in the water here. News Corp has invested $30 million in developing the product and says he wants to sell millions of subscriptions. With an editorial staff of over 100 journalists, including some in-the-field reporting in places like Egypt, and low operating costs of $500,000 dollars cost per week, this is no flash in the pan attempt at an iPad newspaper.

It’s not just “Daily”, they claim: One concern ahead of launch was that it would literally be updated once per day. To audiences used to real-time news, this just wouldn’t be acceptable. The app will supposedly be updated with news as it occurs, and the editorial team can push breaking news into the app via a news ticker if required. It will certainly be interesting to see how they achieve this without breaking the flow of The Daily’s format.

It’s shareable: As it was put in the press conference, “The Daily is not an island”. One of the criticisms of many iPad publications is that they’re completely cut off from the Web. The Daily features links to external websites, plus Facebook, Twitter and email sharing. That sharing isn’t perfectly executed though, as we discuss below.

So, does it deliver?

Loading up the app, it’s hard not to be impressed by the slick video animations and beautifully laid out pages.

Casually flipping through the pages, it’s easy to see that this is a quality production. The writing is generally top-notch and the video reports are as good as anything you’ll see on most TV news shows.

It feels more like a magazine than a newspaper. Maybe it’s the full colour presentation and the video features, but it doesn’t feel much like the “newspaper” it was reported to be, ahead of launch. Seeing as there’s no paper involved anyway, magazine probably works better as a description anyway.

Quality of the content aside, it’s incredibly frustrating to use at times:

The first issue is light on ‘serious’ news: Supposedly aimed at “everyone” (according to the press conference), the first issue’s content definitely sways toward the “light” side of things. Following a report on the situation in Egypt, we get a gallery of photos from snowstorms in the USA, a video report from a prison where inmates makes toys and a story about a disco for dogs – it’s not exactly hard news, on the whole. On pages where serious topics do get a mention, there are sometimes odd juxtapostions. “Missile marketer’s US-to-Iran pipeline” shares a page with “For Grandpa, exercise is worth the weight” and a short piece about Vladimir Putin being a fan of Naomi Campbell – an odd choice of stories to place together.

You can’t search for articles: The main navigation is a revolving carousel of pages, and you can skip to individual sections like ‘News’ and ‘Gossip’ via bookmarks below it. BUT: there’s no search! I wanted to find an article about Bollywood that I had been reading earlier – and I have no way of finding it again without scanning through page after page of other content. I could have ‘Saved’ it earlier, but I didn’t know I’d want to look at it again.

While this encourages a serendipitous approach to discovering articles, it really doesn’t work for an audience used to the “find anything, any time” Internet.

You can’t zoom in: Pinch-to-zoom is nowhere to be seen, so if you find it hard to read small text you’re stuck.

Sharing is flawed: Share an article with Twitter and the iPad keyboard covers the button that lets you post the tweet. If you don’t know how to hide the keyboard you’ll give up in frustration. If you do choose to share, people who click through on your shared link will be taken to a version of that single page on the web – not a whole article if it’s spread over multiple pages.

The way around that (for now) is to share all the individual pages of an article separately, but it’s clear that the only reason you’re supposed to be sharing is to encourage your friends to subscribe to The Daily. That’s understandable of course (they want you to subscribe) but it flies in the face of the sharing we’re used to online.

Questions for the future

There are still questions that remain about whether The Daily really is the right model for the future of news.

Its target audience: People won’t subscribe to a newspaper they dislike. A lot of that depends on the political “voice” of the writing. Will it be right-wing like much of Murdoch’s output, or will it opt for a more centrist tone to appeal to a wider market? When the panel was asked at the press conference about this, the answer was simply “Read it every day and find out”. The same answer came back when the panel was asked about the level of resources that would be invested into investigative news reporting. It appears that much of this is still fluid and we’ll have to wait to see how it plays out.

Not-quite real-time news: With one major update per day, with updates pushed out as required (an we don’t know how often they’ll be), will that be enough for a web-savvy instant gratification generation, or will they just turn to Twitter for their news?

Other countries: There was no word on when The Daily would be launched outside the US. While it’s possible to download it from anywhere (if you know how) and use it at the moment, we imagine that after the current free two-week trial period is over, US payment details will be required to subscribe, but we’ll have to wait and see about that.

We imagine that Murdoch will want to have a local news team in each country he launches The Daily in, to provide specific news for that market. While that makes sense, it goes against the idea that there’s a global market out there – why limit yourself to the US when others around the world will gladly pay?

Our verdict

The Daily is, in all, just a magazine – a nicely presented, multimedia magazine with lots to read, but just a magazine nevertheless. In the face of innovative social magazine hybrid apps like Flipboard, it feels very much like an old media experience in new media clothing.

Once the UI issues are fixed (especially the need for a search feature) it will be probably the best iPad magazine out there, but don’t get too excited. It will develop over time of course, but version 1.0 is unlikely to get you switching from reading your news on the Web, much to Mr. Murdoch’s annoyance.

Rupert Murdoch welcomed the crowd this morning at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, with much discussion over News Corporation‘s expanding media empire with the world’s first digital newspaper exclusively built for the iPad.

“New times demand new journalism… and a new service edited and designed specifically for new devices. Our challenge is to take the best of traditional journalism…and combine it with the best of contemporary technology. 360 degree photographs, graphics that respond to the touch are unthinkable in either print or television. The iPad demands that we completely re-imagine our craft. There’s a growing segment of the population that is educated and sophisticated that does not read national print or newspapers…and they expect content tailored to their specific interests…What we are losing today are the opportunities for true news discovery. The magic of newspapers lies in their seredipity and surprise and the deft touch of a good editor….Our aim is to inform people, to make them think and make them smile and help them engage in the great issues of the day. We can and we must make the business of news gathering viable again.” -Rupert Murdoch

The Daily’s digital renaissance launches with 100 journalists including Executive Creative Director John Kilpatrick; two managing editors: Mike Nizza, a veteran of The New York Times, AOL News and The Atlantic and Steve Alperin, a producer at ABC News; LA Bureau Chief Richard Johnson; Editor of Arts and Life, Sasha Frere-Jones; Sports Editor Chris D’Amico; Opinions Editor Elisabeth Eaves; and Apps, Games and Tech Editor Peter Ha. Also on the list is Wired’s Danny Dumas and the New York Post’s Justin Rocket Silverman. Thus far the only active reporter on The Daily’s Twitter stream is The Daily’s Josh Hersh, who is reporting from Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. Their Facebook page went live moments ago.

Production has been underway for 6 weeks. The first Daily issue features Mubrak and the crisis in Egypt. The Daily’s carousel includes a beautiful visual representation of all the stories in each issue. The stories are completely interactive, and I’m not talking about hyperlinks, you can even record text and voice comments on stories. The Daily will include breaking news, so expect your issue to update repeatedly during the day. The Daily’s apps and games section links right into the Apple store. At its first US only release, their target audience is for 15 million Americans.

The Daily will feature news articles, interactive graphics, videos and photos designed to work with the iPad’s touchscreen. The Daily will cost a mere 14 cents per day, 99 cents a week, $40 per year and will be sold exclusively via Apple’s iTunes store. The first two weeks will be free, courtesy of Verizon. A small selection of the iPad newspaper will be available on its site. A full list of The Daily’s contents:

• Over 100 pages of original news, life, entertainment, opinion and sports

• every single day of the year

• Original video content

• A selection of articles read aloud

• 360 degree photos you can explore by swiping

• Immersive photography

• Interactive charts, info-graphics and clickable ‘hot spots’

• The option to save articles to read later

• Web-friendly versions of articles you can share via Twitter, Facebook and email

• In-app comments – including audio comments

• Your local weather

• Your favorite sports teams’ scores, news and feeds

• Crossword and Sudoku puzzles

The Daily totaled $30 million to set up and will cost $500,000 to run weekly. Subscription will be the larger part of their revenue model at first, but they expect to be moving towards a 50/50 revenue split with ads later in the year. Launch advertisers include HBO, Macy’s, Paramount, Pepsi Max, Range Rover, Verizon, and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Murdoch expects The Daily to be on all major tablets, but says “last year, this year and maybe next year belong to iPad.” Murdoch’s aim is refreshing, particularly juxtaposed against yesterday’s The AOL Way; Murdoch sees the The Daily has a revival of quality journalism in the digital realm. If this goal truly permeates into The Daily’s ethos, I think we can expect a truly quality and engaging product. Although, since playing with the product, my colleague Martin Bryant, has much to say on Murdoch’s new “newspaper.”

Murdoch’s other publications, The Wall Street Journal, The Times and The Sunday Times, have all introduced paywalls for their websites. The Daily joins the ranks of other paid-for newspaper apps on the iPad including Esquire, the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Glamour, GQ and Wired.

“The Daily is not a legacy backed brand moving from the print to the digital world. We believe The Daily will be the model for how stories will be told.” Rupert Murdoch

The Australian mogul is entering the iPad publishing race with Richard Branson, who launched Project magazine on the iPad in November of last year.

• Over 100 pages of original news, life, entertainment, opinion and sports

• every single day of the year

• Original video content

• A selection of articles read aloud

• 360 degree photos you can explore by swiping

• Immersive photography

• Interactive charts, info-graphics and clickable ‘hot spots’

• The option to save articles to read later

• Web-friendly versions of articles you can share via Twitter, Facebook and email

• In-app comments – including audio comments

• Your local weather

• Your favorite sports teams’ scores, news and feeds

• Crossword and Sudoku puzzles

Ever since news started to leak about News Corporation’s upcoming iPad-only newspaper The Daily, it’s been one of the hottest talking points in publishing. Now the first image of the mysterious publication has emerged.

Damon Kiesow at Poynter did some digging around TheDaily.com and managed to find this image that hints at exactly how the new magazine will look. Judging from the image, it appears that the design is image-heavy, with a populist slant to the editorial. “Oprah’s Biggest Gamble”, shouts the first image.

Digging into the code further, Kiesow found the following interesting tidbits:

• The newspaper’s website appears to include plenty of social sharing features for Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Reddit and Newsvine. Could we see social sharing options baked into the iPad app itself, or is this merely a tactic to get people sharing The Daily website’s front page? One rumour is that The Daily’s website will include archive articles from past issues. The website could use this archive as an example of the up-to-date content subscribers will be able to read each day on their iPad.
• An embedded video player is present. Could The Daily be preparing regular video reports to complement its text-based reporting?
• It appears that part of the site will be password protected, but whether that will simply be for subscribers to pay and administer their accounts, or whether archive content will only be available to subscribers, is unclear.

So, lots of questions remain, but there’s less than a week left before Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs are rumoured to be taking to the stage together to launch the publication to the world on 19 January.

According to The Cutline, a Yahoo! news blog, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will join Rupert Murdoch on stage to unveil News Corp.’s much-anticipated iPad newspaper called “The Daily,” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, on Jan. 19th.

Murdoch is reportedly spending a total of $30 million on The Daily. While Murdoch has tried to keep the project quiet, I know a few reporters in New York City who’ve already begun work on The Daily, many of them poached from local media outlets like the NY Observer, The Daily Beast, Forbes, AOL, Politico and the New York Post and from far-flung zines like San Francisco’s Wired Magazine. In total, News Corp has already hired over 100 journalists including 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. The company will be headquartered in the big apple with staffers in Los Angeles.

The Daily is expected to cost .99 per issue and will implement a new “push” subscription feature from iTunes that automatically bills customers on a weekly or monthly basis, with a new edition delivered to your iPad each morning.

While the date has been pushed back a few times now, inside sources tell us that reporters are mobilizing to start work at the New York offices in January. News Corp has already hired over 100 journalists for The Daily including 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. Also on the list is Wired’s Danny Dumas. The iPad newspaper will include a large video and multimedia department as well, including rumored 3D effects, (perhaps in the advertising?).

The Daily is expected to cost .99 per issue and will implement a new “push” subscription feature from iTunes that automatically bills customers on a weekly or monthly basis, with a new edition delivered to your iPad each morning. The Australian mogul is entering the iPad publishing race with Richard Branson, who launched Project magazine on the iPad last month.

Via Reuters, News Corp has announced that it has acquired privately-held Wireless Generation for a reported $360 million in cash. Wireless Generation makes educational apps for students and teachers to help build curricula and teach core concepts. News Corp bought Wireless Generation to bolster its offerings in the education technology sector. From the Wireless Generation site, here is how they describe what the company does:

Wireless Generation creates innovative tools, systems, and services that help educators teach smarter. With its mobile assessment software, the company invented a better way to give classroom assessments and make data-based instructional decisions. Wireless Generation has broken new ground with technology that analyzes student data and provides curriculum customized to individual learning needs. Wireless Generation also builds large-scale data systems that centralize student data and give educators and parents unprecedented visibility into learning. A Web 2.0 collaboration and knowledge network for educators propagates proven approaches across schools. Wireless Generation currently serves more than 200,000 educators and 3 million students.

According to the press release, the executive team in place at Brooklyn-based Wireless Generation and co-founder Larry Berger will stay at the helm and keep a 10% stake in the in company. Operating as a subsidiary of News Corp, this is a nice set of technologies coming into the fold. While, this acquisition is ostensibly for education technology, I just can’t help but to think that it also has something to do with the reported iPad Newspaper.

Don’t get me wrong, I think News Corp is very serious about education technology. Electronic textbooks alone could be worth billions in the coming years, and as students (and parents) expect high tech to be core to teaching, helping schools offer integrated solutions will be key. But I also had a look through Wireless Generation’s product line (I’m digging the writing apps) and saw things like the mClass device. Here is something that is designed to be toted around, connect with lots of other information centers, and is rather tough (as in can take a beating).

I look at the mClass device and see how it works with information and the classroom, and can’t help think that this technology could be adapted for newsrooms, consumers, or other platforms.

Maybe I’m just nuts, but I swear this is more about getting technology for other ends than it is about education.