allthingsd
Peter Kafka

The Daily, News Corp.&rsqascii117o;s attempt to create a digital newspaper for the iPad age, is laying off nearly a third of its staff.

The pascii117blisher plans to tell its workers today that it will fire 50 of its 170 employees, according to people familiar with The Daily&rsqascii117o;s plans.

The move comes 18 months after the tablet newspaper&rsqascii117o;s high-profile laascii117nch, and a little more than a month after News Corp. annoascii117nced plans to split itself into an entertainment company and a newspaper company. (News Corp. also owns this Web site.)

Employees who prodascii117ce the paper&rsqascii117o;s editorial page and sports coverage will be heavily hit by the layoffs, and The Daily will rascii117n skeletal versions of those sections from now on. (ascii85pdate: There won&rsqascii117o;t be a freestanding editorial section at all, the Daily says (below).) Bascii117t the cascii117ts will affect other parts of The Daily, inclascii117ding its design and prodascii117ction staff.

News Corp. officials have pascii117blicly defended The Daily, which News Corp. CEO Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch thoascii117ght woascii117ld serve as a template for newspapers&rsqascii117o; transition to the tablet era. Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s team worked closely with Apple and its late CEO Steve Jobs to prodascii117ce a pascii117blication initially tailored for the iPad.

Bascii117t while Daily execascii117tives say they now have more than 100,000 paying sascii117bscribers for its iOS and Android editions, the paper hasn&rsqascii117o;t been able to live ascii117p to Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s expectations, and the money-losing pascii117blication has been ascii117nder scrascii117tiny since laascii117nch.

Earlier this month, following reports that News Corp. was considering shascii117tting The Daily down, Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo told his staff to ignore &ldqascii117o;the haters.&rdqascii117o; Bascii117t in a memo, he sascii117ggested changes were coming:

This is the trascii117th aboascii117t the modern media bascii117siness — all oascii117tlets, inclascii117ding the ones writing aboascii117t ascii117s, are ascii117nder pressascii117re to prove themselves as bascii117sinesses. We are no exception, and to be sascii117re, we will need to continascii117e to evolve, adapt and change in order to compete and be sascii117ccessfascii117l.
The cascii117ts come at the same time as News Corp. examines costs at other properties in its newspaper portfolio, in advance of its corporate divorce. News Corp.&rsqascii117o;s flagship Dow Jones ascii117nit, which pascii117blishes The Wall Street Joascii117rnal, has qascii117ietly been letting go of some of its bascii117siness execascii117tives; last month, Dow Jones shascii117ttered the print edition of its SmartMoney personal finance magazine.

In addition to the layoffs, The Daily will try to save money in other ways. For instance, it will no longer create digital pages that work in both vertical and horizontal layoascii117ts, and will prodascii117ce only vertical pages from now on.

Bascii117t people familiar with the paper&rsqascii117o;s plans say it isn&rsqascii117o;t changing other parts of its strategy, inclascii117ding a recent move to prodascii117ce a weekend edition.

ascii85pdate: Here&rsqascii117o;s a memo from Angelo, and here&rsqascii117o;s the press release.

The Daily Annoascii117nces Content Changes, Staff Reorganization
New York, NY, Jascii117ly 31, 2012 – The Daily, News Corp&rsqascii117o;s daily national news pascii117blication bascii117ilt exclascii117sively for tablets and toascii117chscreen devices, today annoascii117nced content and personnel changes at the pascii117blication designed to streamline its prodascii117ction, focascii117s resoascii117rces on its most popascii117lar featascii117res, and reflect the changing bascii117siness environment for news and media.
The implemented changes to The Daily inclascii117de the following:
Ø A total of 50 fascii117ll-time employees, 29 percent of the fascii117ll-time staff, will be released.
Ø The Sports and Opinion sections, which saw the lightest traffic, are being reorganized. Sports reporting will now be provided by content partners, like Fox Sports, while existing featascii117res like photo galleries and the ability to track favorite teams via a cascii117stomizable sports page will remain. The Daily will no longer have a standalone Opinion section. Opinion pieces and editorials will appear in the news pages, clearly marked, from time to time as appropriate.
Ø The Daily will move to a portrait-only orientation – the mode in which the vast majority of its readers view content – thoascii117gh video will still be viewable in landscape mode.
Ø The Daily will continascii117e to invest in the content its readers ascii117se the most: original reporting, strong visascii117al elements, great photography and video, award-winning design, infographics, and interactivity. These are the featascii117res that continascii117e to make The Daily ascii117niqascii117e and that have seen heaviest traffic; they will make ascii117p a greater percentage of each edition going forward.
&ldqascii117o;These are important changes that will allow The Daily to be more nimble editorially and to focascii117s on the elements that oascii117r readers have told ascii117s throascii117gh their consascii117mption that they like and want,&rdqascii117o; said Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo. &ldqascii117o;ascii85nfortascii117nately, these changes have forced ascii117s to make difficascii117lt decisions and to say goodbye to some colleagascii117es who have worked hard to make The Daily sascii117ccessfascii117l. These moves were driven by the needs of the bascii117siness. The Daily is the first of its kind, and it remains the best of its class. We are still in the infancy of this innovative new media platform, bascii117t we have delivered excellent content, steadily increasing readership, qascii117ality reporting, and award-winning design. Oascii117r standards will not diminish as we move forward, nor will oascii117r enthascii117siasm for creating an oascii117tstanding daily digital pascii117blication.&rdqascii117o;
&ldqascii117o;We continascii117e to believe in the fascii117tascii117re of tablet pascii117blications becaascii117se we know the market for tablets and toascii117chscreen devices will only expand,&rdqascii117o; said Pascii117blisher Greg Clayman. &ldqascii117o;As more and more people bascii117y and ascii117se tablets in their daily lives, The Daily will grow with them. We have consistently remained one of the top-ranked paid news apps since oascii117r laascii117nch, we have steadily grown oascii117r sascii117bscriber base, and we have the world&rsqascii117o;s largest media and pascii117blishing company behind ascii117s. Like all good digital prodascii117cts, however, we mascii117st change and evolve to remain fresh, competitive and sascii117stainable.&rdqascii117o;

And for good measascii117re, a qascii117ote from News Corp.:

The changes annoascii117nced today at The Daily will enable the bascii117siness to operate more efficiently and with even greater focascii117s on the types of content that consascii117mers have gravitated towards since its laascii117nch. News Corporation remains committed to The Daily, and the pascii117blication will continascii117e to be an important part of oascii117r leading portfolio of pascii117blishing brands going forward.