The Daily, The Tablet, and The Editor
Posted on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 10:14 AM
Viewing News Corporation's launch from an editor's perspective.
By
Meredith L. Dias
"New times demand new journalism. The
devices that modern engineering has put in our hands demand a new
service, edited and designed specifically for them."
With that
statement, media mogul Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. has thrown his
hat into the digital publishing ring. Earlier this month, he launched The
Daily, a daily iPad newspaper. So just how "new" is the Daily
brand of journalism? Is the "new service" really all that new? What is
the role of editorial in tablet publishing?
The Daily Contents
The
Daily, says Carl Bagh in
a recent International Business Times article, "is an attempt to
rekindle the old print-based newspaper on a different platform, the
tablets." It is, in
New York Magazine's words, "an iPad-only tabloid."
An
editorial team, led by The New York Daily Post managing editor
Jesse Angelo, creates each iPad-optimized issue and beefs up the text
with photographs, panoramic images, HD video, and the ability to share
certain content with social networks. Subscribers log in to the app
daily to receive the latest issue. They can scroll through a "carousel"
of stories and select the content that interests them, much like
flipping through a traditional print newspaper.
Will readers
latch onto this multimedia-enhanced version of a traditional newspaper?
Some believe that its app-based subscription model could be the answer
that has eluded newspaper publishers for years. However, for the time
being, The Daily is available to iPad users only, so its reach is
limited. Still, the newspaper constitutes a compelling tablet publishing
experiment. Will 3D imagery, streaming HD video, and sharing
capabilities be enough to shift reader habits away from free content and
a 24/7 news cycle?
The Daily takes into consideration the
twenty-first-century news cycle; editors can update the issue throughout
the day to cover breaking news that arises. About that, James
Poniewozick of Time.com says, "I haven't seen much evidence of that
yet."
Editorial Responsibilities
The Daily
presents a challenge to its editors. They are responsible not just for a
collection of up-to-the-minute news articles, but also a multimedia
experience. To quote The Princess Bride, "That doesn't leave much
time for dilly-dallying." So much more is involved than just formatting
articles in a grid. It's seeking out the photographic and video content
that will engage the reader and turn the article into a rich multimedia
experience. It's keeping the content relevant when there other online
news outlets update constantly throughout the day. And it's generating
attention-grabbing Facebook- and Twitter-ready headlines for social
sharing.
A publication this media-intensive would be difficult
enough to maintain on a monthly basis. So how will editors churn out
issue after daily issue of multimedia news coverage? According
to macstories.net, editor-in-chief Jesse Angelo's newsroom is
powered by over 100 journalists. In a memo to his editorial team, reproduced
on New York Magazine's website, he expresses his desire to
move beyond web and wire reporting. He wants exclusives. He wants The
Daily to become an original source, rather than an aggregator of
wire content. He wants his "crack news team" to produce original,
groundbreaking content on a daily basis.
The Element of Reader
Choice
According to some media analysts, The Daily
falls short in its failure to incorporate the concept of reader choice.
Like a print newspaper, The Daily is a static editorial product
-- readers cannot filter daily content to suit their specific
preferences. Apps like Flipboard, on the other hand, allow readers to
create their own magazine based on personal interests. "Thus," says Bagh
in his article, "the choice before the user is to create their own
customized content experience or to rely on a group of editors to define
their experience."
However, readers can define their Daily
experience to a point. The app allows them to personalize their
subscription with local weather data and preferred sports team news.
A
Compelling Experiment
Just how important is reader choice in
today's digital publishing world? Vital, according to some. The Internet
has empowered readers to seek out the content that interests them and
ignore what doesn't. So how appealing will a digital version of the
traditional print newspaper be to young readers who have cut their teeth
on the 24/7 news cycle? Will they embrace this repackaged version of a
classic concept, or will they continue to rely on tailored newsfeeds
from their favorite sites? Can News Corp. and other publishing entities
lure these readers away from constantly updated (not to mention free)
news content from Google News?
The Daily has posted a YouTube
video that demonstrates the newspaper's major features. Their iPad
publishing vision: "Touch, swipe, tap, and explore to bring stories to
life." If enough readers heed this intriguing instruction, The
Daily may prove to be the first of many daily news publications
edited and designed specifically for tablets.
Meredith Dias is
senior editor of Editors Only.
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