“As News Corp. shores up its print and television properties leading up to the company’s highly publicized split, its scrappy and beloved internal newswire Newscore has quietly gone dark, with at least 20 positions eliminated—and possibly more than twice that if cuts hit bureaus in London and Sydney,” Kat Stoeffel reports for The New York Observer.
“Launched in 2009, Newscore collected and redistributed the news stories from News Corp.’s reporters in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, while racing rivals AP and Reuters on breaking news,” Stoeffel reports. “For News Corp. employees, Newscore was cherished as a wackier alternative to other wires, curating a web-friendly—and classically Murdoch—mix of the buzzy weird news, crime and animal stories well-suited to the company’s tabloid elements.”
Stoeffel reports, “The layoffs are part of a wave of cost-cutting measures occurring as the media giant prepares to spin off its newspaper operations (like The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post) into a separate company, which will no longer be insulated by the success of properties like Fox News and BSkyB… In addition, there are internal rumors that The Daily has been put ‘on watch.’ According to a source the status of the groundbreaking iPad tabloid — which loses $30 million a year — will be reassessed after the November 6 election.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We haven’t checked out The Daily in months. Anybody still perusing it? If so, how is it?
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Rupert Murdoch to split News Corp. into two publicly traded companies – June 28, 2012
News Corp.’s The Daily averaging only 120,000 readers at most per week – September 29, 2011
News Corp.’s ‘The Daily’ lost $10 million over last three months – May 5, 2011
Twitter data suggests News Corp.’s The Daily iPad news app is losing audience – April 6, 2011
The Daily: First national daily news publication exclusively for iPad debuts; Jobs: ‘It’s terrific’ – February 2, 2011
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Wow, if The Daily is losing $30 million per year someone there is doing something very wrong. Why is the operating cost so high?
Why should anyone anywhere PAY Rupert Murdoch and his rag-tag collection of news rags to lie to them?
I looked forward to its arrival, but was very disappointed. It was mainly pictures, with had very little text on most stories.
Actually, the first class photography is one if its high points. Anyone can talk or type on a keyboard. Photographers have to be there and provide a perspective to the subject that long winded writers can’t.
They doesn’t replace words, but they do make them shine.
I didn’t see any of this great photography in the first three issues, which were all I ever saw before the godawful POS was deleted from my iPad with extreme prejudice.
What’s “The Daily”? Isn’t that the one with John Stewart?
Don’t mistake a horrible news magizine for a funny and successful TV program.
The Daily is a well designed app. It just needs more advertising for people to use it. I stumbled on it when I found it otherwise, I wouldn’t know that it existed.
It would only be news if the evil Murdoch empire went completely dark. No one will read a source of theirs with any sense of credibility. Farewell, my lovely.
Also, “The Daily” is awful. eye candy with no meaning or context== rubbish.
I suspect it’s been a very long time since you read it, TBone. There is actually much less eye candy today than when they started. That’s not necessarily a good thing. As The Other Steve mentions above, photography (and graphics) are indeed some of its high points.
Don’t listen to the Fox News haters. Typical liberals no idea.
The Daily has some very good features. Very interactive and worth the money.
… never used “The Daily” – mainly because I’d never heard of it. Their fault? Mine? Both?
However, the description – “weird news, crime and animal stories well-suited to the company’s tabloid elements” – reminds me of stuff I saw – and disliked – on other sites. I’m not big on Tabloid “News”, preferring something with a hint of fact and a jigger of reality mixed in. Not what Murdoch’s various outlets are known for. Despite their wire taps.
I guess you could call me liberal, but I agree, the Daily is worth the money. It is not hard news, but very engaging with great interactivity and video content. It does shows a big staff is involved. I just take the opinion section, with a grain of salt. People should give it a go. It’s really the best proof of concept publication on the iPad.
Absolutely right, OSP.
And, I’m embarrassed to say that I’ll likely also miss “The Weekly” (the Saturday puppets in The Daily) if they close. I sometimes find them in questionable taste, but I look forward to their on-the-street interviews nonetheless.
But I also hated the NY Times iPad app. Wanted it to recreate the look and feel of the print edition, but it’s nothing close.
Tried them both – wouldn’t notice if they both disappeared.
The Daily is NOTHING like the New York Times iPad app. Miles apart. I downloaded the NYT but was never drawn into it at all. And, speaking of slant and bias, the New York Times beats The Daily in that. The NYT’s is dangerously biased, even publishing blatantly false information.
If I might ask, DRZ, what do you read?
For sure the operating cost is not due to photos since they pay almost nothing for images.
Loloon, they appear to have a real news staff. Seems like a pretty good one. Some “exclusives,” though not always what I feel are important, hard news stories. Still, they obviously have a bunch of people working on this.
Photos do not necessarily cost “almost nothing.”
Still, $30 mil seems like a lot nonetheless and I also wonder where they’e spending all that.
More highbrow than the NY Post but just as pungent.
I subscribed for a year. It steadily improved. Every day had something of interest, something clever, tech takes, cheesecake, yoga vids, sports, take-no-prisoners opinion pieces, sudoku. For only $0.99 US per week, it was well worth it to me, at the time.
I agree. The content has improved and it use to crash all time.
Everything is pretty smooth now. Overall they have done a good job.
The coverage of the Japan quake last year was excellent imo.
I have subscribed almost from the beginning. I have seen good improvements. There is always something interesting in it, well worth the 99¢/week to me. I check it out “daily.” I like the people, the features, and the reporting…all of which have improved. Sure, there’re some missteps. But, overall, it’s been good for me. I’ve noticed something has been going on recently and I’d be very disappointed to lose this. I have nothing in the wings to replace it.
The App’s Daily Crossword still has the best crossword puzzle interface in the app store, hands down.
Have been a subscriber since the beginning .it has gotten much better ,articles are sometimes slanted more than I would like but still a great read everyday.
I was reluctant to use the Daily for some of the very reasons cited in the comments section. Decided to give it a try and have been pleasantly surprised. Love the history page and find that the political commentary is fairly balanced…hence my surprise. Overall, I think it is a well designed app that is improving every month.
I sure agree. Perhaps by restricting it to the iPad (and now iPhone) was too limiting for making the money they need.
It will be a loss to lose it.
“…classically Murdoch—mix of the buzzy weird news, crime and animal stories well-suited to the company’s tabloid elements.”
Should Read
‘…classically Murdoch—mix of the buzzy right wing mantras, slanted reporting and G.O.P. talking points well-suited to the company’s wing-nut elements.”
News Crap = Faux Newz = New York Post = Murdoch Street Journal
Remember: Fox News is a brand-not a statement and Fair & Balanced is a slogan- not a fact.
PAP, I’ll disagree with (some of) what you’re saying. The Daily has some slant just like too many of the other publications out there. But it is far better than when it started. And I expect people to be able to read its stuff critically, recognizing the slant versus the main gist of the story. You can certainly balance by reading multiple sources, as many of us try to do.
Attacking The Daily should not equate to attacking Murdoch. He does not oversee every story. Can’t possibly. As others have mentioned, overall, there is good content. Some “real news,” some “interesting stuff,” and some helpful info. The story lengths are just about exactly right for me. Not so long that they drag, not so short (usually) that I need more info that I can’t find elsewhere.
The Daily has a sense of sarcasm throughout that adds to it. I complained when it started about bias and other start-up problems. Now, I’m a fan. Nothing else is so iPad-centric. Renewed my subscription some time back without a second thought. Losing $30 million a year is not sustainable. I hope that figure is wrong and I hope they can stay alive.
I’ll go a step further. If their subscription rate had to increase significantly to keep it alive, I’d gladly pay it. Doubt others would, so that might not work for them anyway. The Daily is worth more to me than the paltry 99¢/week they charge, even less annually, which I pay without a whimper. It’s a great value.
I enjoy the Daily. The price is right and it has a nice mix of news and gossip and opinion. It has improved SO much interface wise and has really found its rhythm. Although the news stories do have an unsubtle editorial voice, if there is a problem with it, it is that it is pretty lightweight compared to the WSJ. But both the WSJ and the NYT are too expensive.
I love the Daily as a suplement to all the other news.
The photography is remarkable and the use of video will will be recognized as ground breaking.
You’re right, Len. Those who look at The Daily as a stand-alone news source may correctly have some complaints. But I don’t think that’s what it is. Like every other news source, it should be used as part of an overall package of news sources. It is a supplement. Or others are supplements to TD.
It also seems that many people who complain tried it briefly in the beginning and dropped it. I hope it stays around.