By William Launder News Corp. (NWS, NWSA, NWS.AU) will eliminate 50 full-time staff members from The Daily, an online newspaper introduced last year to cater to tablet users. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newswire and The Wall Street Journal. The job cuts come as News Corp. prepares to split its faster-growing media and entertainment divisions from its publishing assets, in a move expected to increase scrutiny on the publishing unit's financial performance. The job cuts affect 29% of The Daily's staff. Other changes planned for The Daily include shifting sports coverage to content partners like Fox Sports and eliminating the online publication's standalone opinion section. Going forward, opinion pieces and editorials will be included "from time to time" on the publication's news pages, News Corp. said. A News Corp. spokesman said the company "remains committed to The Daily, and the publication will continue to be an important part of our leading portfolio of publishing brands going forward." News Corp. launched The Daily to much fanfare early last year, in an attempt to rethink the delivery of news content on tablet devices like Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad. At that time, News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said The Daily would become "the model" for making news gathering a viable business in the digital age. Write to William Launder at william.launder@dowjones.com Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
