Amid reports of The Daily’s uncertain future, the iPad newspaper’s editor-in-chief told staff on Friday: don’t listen to the “haters.”
Editor Jesse Angelo congratulated staff on the launch of the publication’s weekend newspaper, called, appropriately enough, WKND. “As for the latest misinformed, untrue rumors of our imminent demise, I would urge you to ignore them,” Angelo said in the memo. “Since before we launched, our dear friends at competing media outlets have done their best to wish us ill and gleefully ‘report’ on what they think is going on here. The truth is we have over 100,000 paying subs who are renewing their subscriptions at a 98% rate and fantastic advertisers who love our brand and keep coming back for more because they get results. Pay attention to them, not the haters.”
But the New York Observer and New York Times both reported this week that the iPad newspaper — which sheds about $30 million a year — has been put “on watch.” The Observer says News Corp. will take another look at the publication after the November election.
Angelo said in the memo that The Daily, like all modern media companies, will need to continue to evolve and prove itself as a business. “But make no mistake, we are nimble and we will compete.”
News Corp. last month announced it will pursue a corporate split, separating its entertainment businesses from its publishing assets. Fox News and 20th Century Fox fall on the entertainment side, while the newspapers and HarperCollins will be part of the publishing company. News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch explained at the time that the phone hacking scandal unfolding in Britain had nothing to do with the split. “This is looking forward to what’s best for our companies, and what’s best for our shareholders,” he said. News Corp. was not immediately available for comment.
Read Angelo’s full memo here.
Correction: This piece incorrectly identified Random House as the publishing company owned by News Corp. We regret the error.
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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