LOS ANGELES — News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch is embarking on an ambitious plan for a new national digital newspaper to be distributed exclusively as paid content for tablet computers such as Apple’s iPad and mobile phones.
The initiative, which would directly compete with The New York Times, USA Today and other national publications, is the latest attempt by a major media organization to harness new devices to reach readers who increasingly consume their news on the go. The development underscores how the iPad is transforming the reading habits of consumers much like the iPod changed how people listen to music.
“We’ll have young people reading newspapers,” the 79-year-old Murdoch said during the company’s Aug. 4 earnings call. “It’s a real game-changer in the presentation of news.”
Unlike News Corp.’s business-centric Wall Street Journal, the new digital newspaper would target a more general readership, offering short, snappy stories that could be digested quickly.
The newsroom would operate under the auspices of Murdoch’s New York Post and be overseen by its managing editor, Jesse Angelo. A launch date has not been set, although people familiar with the matter said News Corp. would like it to debut by year’s end.
Although it would draw on the reporting resources of the Post and Dow Jones, Murdoch could potentially invest millions of dollars to staff the operation and charge a yet-to-be determined subscription fee.
