Five days of The Daily
Monday, February 7, 2011 at 9:17 AM
Logan Molen in Magazines, Media, Newspapers, Project, Rupert Murdoch, Technology, The Daily, Video, iPad, tablets

Front page of The Daily from last weekIf you're in the news business, the big industry buzz of the past week was the launch of The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's new iPad-only news app. Even those who don't have iPads were chiming in on The Daily, good or bad. I can't recall this kind of interest in a news product in a long time.

If you're a regular reader of this site, you know I posted back in November that I was tired of pre-launch hate for The Daily, which only picked up steam with Wednesday's launch. I thought some of that post-launch criticism was justified (particularly with technical issues and thin hard-news report) while much was blind hate toward Murdoch and something different. After Day 1, I shared a quick update to that November post and said I'd follow-up after a few days of thorough review.

An iTunes-style story carousel is a great way to scan storiesAnd?

I feel like a piece of swaying seaweed writing this but I after 5 days of reading, I have a love-hate relationship with The Daily. One minute I'm thrilled, the next I'm shaking my head in disgust.

I understand The Daily is not supposed to be The New York Times or even Huffington Post -- it's a tabloid for tablets. "The Daily" is not a publication of record. It skims the news and makes no bones about ignoring important news that for whatever reason doesn't make the cut.

Presentation is frequently striking, which is magnified on a high-resolution platform like the iPad.But too often The Daily seems thrown together, with digital tricks often inserted at the expense of relevant information.

I think The Daily is a product with tons of promise that surprises me enough each day to keep me coming back. But there are some flaws that I consider serious in light of The Daily's $25 million pre-launch costs and $500,000 per week operating costs moving forward.

So, follow me as I run through some highlights and lowlights, as well as a few suggestions:

Highlights:

Lowlights:

There's clearly work to be done to make The Daily a mainstream hit. Murdoch bought a 30-second ad for The Daily in the Super Bowl, so no doubt non-journalists and techies will be introduced to the app. And it's been front and center in the iTunes store. I do think the tabloid-style story mix will bode well for a mainstream audience, But I think it needs more hard news -- and deeper takeouts -- to keep the news junkies tuning in and to give it some punch during times when average Americans really do want to read about faraway places like Egypt.

Jeff Jarvis of Buzz Machine has estimated The Daily needs 750,000 subscribers over the next year to make a go of it. That's about 10% of all iPad users, which is not a realistic target. Murdoch is promising Android versions (and presumably other tablet OS's like Blackberry) soon, so that will no doubt improve The Daily's chances of survival.

I think The Daily has been a great experiment and hope -- really hope -- it survives. But as a Wall Street Journal print and online subscriber who has appreciated the focus and investment Murdoch has brought to that brand over the last year, I'm confused at what The Daily wants to be. Let's hope someone figures that out before it's too late.

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