Rupert Murdoch's The Daily Debuts Feb. 2 On An iPad Near You

You have to hand it to Rupert Murdoch. Things are never dull when he's around. Murdoch brought British-style tabloid journalism to the U.S. a few decades ago, rejuvenating the New York Post, launching Fox News and gaining ownership of what many regarded as America's most prestigious newspaper, The Wall Street Journal.

Far from disgracing the Journal, he has maintained its traditional coverage of business and commerce while adding new sections covering fashion, lifestyle, the arts and sports and, perhaps most daringly, launched a new section dedicated to covering the New York area, an ink squirt aimed directly at The New York Times.

Both fans and detractors agree he has remade television news, not to everyone's liking but UK-style journalism has always been more strident and opinionated than the American version. It certainly can't be denied that he has been investing heavily in the newspaper industry, largely written off as moribund by most steely-eyed investors.

Now Murdoch hopes to go himself one better, launching an iPad-only newspaper called The Daily. After a slight delay to iron out technical glitches, the launch is now set for Feb. 2 and the news is creating a buzz in both the dead-tree and digital news sectors.

Make no mistake. This won't be your father's Wall Street Journal. No one, of course, knows for sure what the new paper will be like but most industry watchers expect it to be more along the lines of the New York Post – a lively, even saucy, publication aimed at the somewhat casual reader who's more likely to be interested in sports, celebrity gossip and crime news rather than thumb-sucking pieces opining on the world situation or the global economy.

Or, as a noted press wag once put it, “News is for the fellow who doesn't much care about anything.”

The launch event is scheduled at 11:00 am EST, Wednesday, February 2nd at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue in New York and is, needless to say, by invitation only.

You won't need an invitation to subscribe to the paper though. All you need is 99 cents – and in the newspaper world, that's significant.

Nothing for nothing

Besides his many other eccentricities, Murdoch has long believed that readers shouldn't expect something for nothing. The Wall Street Journal has charged for its online edition for years and any expectation that Murdoch would change that quickly faded after the takeover.

Murdoch's The Times of London and News of the World last year started charging subscription fees – or, as they put it in the newspaper world, put themselves behind paywalls.

Most newspaper publisher quake fearfully at the notion that their product is worth charging for, although that has never stopped them from charging as much as the market could bear, and then some, for display and classified advertising.

In fact, even though nearly everyone thinks it was a mistake to put newspapers on the Web for free, nearly everyone is still doing it, not finding any attractive options close at hand.

The New York Times has devised an elaborate scheme that it is expected to implement shortly, giving away a little bit, giving the whole thing away to readers who have a paid subscription to the print edition and then, maybe, selling little bits and pieces to others. How well this works remains to be seen, to put it politely.

As for Murdoch, you might say America's publishers are behind him all the way. Knees quaking, they'll be watching eagerly come Feb. 2 to see if Murdoch once again eats their lunch for them.