Many of the iPad news apps have functionality similar to this, but also give you a 'front page' like a website. For instance, the USA Today app allows you to browse the 'front' page, but once you select a story, a flick to the left or right moves to the next or previous story, while up and down scrolls the current story.
This is well done and worth checking out. The only thing I didn't like is the strictly linear route to all articles, whether you're interested in every article or not. But I don't think that takes away from the accomplishment.
There's a nice "jump to section" UI at the top. But you're right, there's no article list.
But there's no article list in a real newspaper either. Although it has better browseability.