WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

Who is Jesse Angelo?: The leader of this project is a former managing editor of the New York Post, a tabloid that has been losing a lot of money since Murdoch bought this competitor of the New York Daily News. Angelo is a Harvard graduate and lifelong New Yorker. He began as a freelance reporter for The Post’s Page Six in 1999. He was hired full time as a news reporter, then moved to the business desk, where he quickly rose to deputy business editor. Angelo was named metropolitan editor in April 2001.“

Murdoch on The Daily one week ago: “I’m starting a paper in six weeks. A brand new paper. It will be a bit like the New York Post. But it will be national. It will only be seen on tablets. It will only employ journalists – and maybe eight to 10 technicians.”

Promotion: Amazing. Learning from Apple, News Corporation is almost silent, but the viral marketing is going crazy. Serious newspapers like The Guardian have been trap in this noisy silent-strategy publishing rumors with no facts.

Is this paper another example of “Dead On Arrival”?: That’s the main view of all the blind experts, people that have not seen anything and are killing the baby before birth.

My own take: Give them a chance. They have will, money, resources and talent to try this only-tablet national publication. If Murdoch wins, expect a lot of replicas around the world. If he fails, all of us will learn how to do it better. So, let’s wait and see. My only concern is that the time has been too short: a huge project like this cannot be done in six months.

Tentative name: “The Daily”

Publisher: News Corporation.

Headquarters: New York, USA.

Digital platforms: Apple  iPad and Google Android based tablets.

Target: general readership, offering short, snappy stories that could be digested quickly.

Main print competitors: USA Today and The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal  national editions.

Launching date: before Christmas.

Budget: $30 million.

Tentative subscription cost: $1 per week (The Wall Street Journal on iPad is available for a $4 weekly subscription fee).

Staff: 150 editors, journalists, IT experts and managers.

First big guns: The New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones hired as culture editor; Richard Johnson (gossip) and Jesse Angelo (crime) come from The New York Post; Mike Nizza from AOL, The Atlantic and The New York Times.

Business manager: Greg Clayman, former head of Viacom’s digital division,

Key-factors for success: original content.

Why a tablet? Because is the iPad is “a game-changer,”

Why Rupert Murdoch is so much involved in the project?: Because he believes that The Daily, properly executed, will demonstrate that consumers are willing to pay for high quality, original content specifically designed for a burgeoning category of high-end digital readers.

Mobile first: As Murdoch said, “Mobile technology will transform the print business. We’re going to see, around the world, hundreds and hundreds of millions of these devices – we’ve got to develop our methods of presentation of news.”

In summary:Murdoch’s number 1 and most exciting project right now.

More at our Harvard Tablets Summit.

Be there!

Read the first paragraph of this poor column and you will see how to write 597 words without any real information, but pretending that you are an insider.

“I ran into James Murdoch last night…” Oh, my God… That’s incredible!

The author of the Murdoch biography seems to be obsessed with the CEO of News Corporation.

As Miran, Pavic twitters to Wolff and about his book “you seem to be compensating for notion it was too soft”

So without real news, he plays the bullshit card.

He is not the only one.

Yesterday, the Manhattan gossip blog, did the same but worse with this kind of pseudo-journalism.

Well, Murdoch never has been a popular figure, but at least deserves some credit as media investor.

Others speak, he does.

Perhaps he is wrong with the pay-model for all his publications, but at the en of the day, you don’t need to worry.

He is the boss.

It’s his money.

And if you don’t need to like him.

So all this anti-Murdoch furor seems out of focus.

Full disclosure:

In my case, I subscribe to The Times of London.

And, I’m sorry Mr. Wolff, I like it very much.

His company invited us for a “One Day with Innovation” and the meeting with his publishers and editors in Australia was a pleasure, and he also wrote a terrific Foreword for our 2009 INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPER, and he was very gracious with us.

(Illustration by Luis Grañena)

Read here, free, the Foreword written by Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation’s Chairman and CEO, for our 2009 INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS Global Report and get here the full edition now on sale.

Andrew Clark reports at the Sunday Morning Herald:

• Rupert Murdoch said the iPad and the Kindle would be ”unloved and unsold” without creativity from companies like his News Corporation.

• Tablet computers, e-readers and smartphones would be unloved ”empty vessels” without quality creative content.

• He revealed the company was in ”advanced discussions” with hand-held device manufacturers about a subscription model allowing people to access media content ”whenever and wherever they want it”.

• ”Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital,” he said. ”We’re on the cusp of a digital revolution from which our shareholders will profit handsomely.”

• In a reference to technology such as Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle, he said such ”fabulous devices” would be ”unloved and unsold” without creativity from companies such as his own, adding they were powered by content – not batteries.

• ”Instead of the existential debate about value, now we’re merely arguing about valuation,” he said. ”Consumers want content delivered immediately and on a variety of devices. They’re willing to pay to be entertained and informed.”

Why News Corp. chairman and managing director Rupert Murdoch announced that he was going to start charging for online news content by July 2010 and not right now?

It’s amazing how just a declaration became like a biblical message.

Murdoch dixit!

Well, I an happy to read this TIME’s Belinds Luscombe analysis and agree 100 per cent.

Yes, Murdoch was trying to confront the bad results, and save the face in front of investors and shareholders and as Belinda says:

“Murdoch cares little for Wall Street, but he knows his investors need to have confidence that he’s on his game. The switch to a pay model smacks of virility and aggression, the Murdoch of yore. “If we’re successful,” he said, “we’ll be followed fast by other media.”

So, don’t expect miracles or magic solutions for the online payments fiasco.

Only a few and very unique news websitres will be able to charge.

Period.

These two charts show a strinking difference.

In the results.

In the management style.

As americanthinker.com said:

Whereas NWS has rallied just over 140% since August 2002, shares of the NYT have declined just over 60% during the same time, and to a new all-time low toward $17.00 a share. The all-time peak was at $53.00 the week of June 28, 2002.

NWS has a market value of about $70 billion vs. NYT at about $3 billion.

Perception is reality!