Rupert Murdoch is not letting the Times paywall exodus stop him in his attempts to make online news pay, with the announcement of the development of an entirely online newspaper distributed through iPads and smartphones.
His media conglomerate, News Corp. is planning the launch of a national news title in the US, that would be subscription based and operate through its own dedicated news team.
The new title is being overseen by Jesse Angelo, who is currently the executive editor of another of Murdoch's titles, the New York Post. The online experiment will also use some content from the Post as well as the Dow Jones newswire units.
News Corp. is thought to be planning to spend between $30 million and $40 million on the project. They aim for it to directly challenge the other major national publication in the US, including the New York Times and USA today. It will offer short, snappy stories that can be digested quickly and insiders predict that it could be ready for launch before the end of the year.
Murdoch has frequently referred to the revolutionary potential of the iPad and other tablet devices. "We'll have young people reading newspapers," the 79-year-old said recently. "It's a real game changer in the presentation of news."
