I don't see why that makes the case for native apps more compelling.
For the organization, the benefits of longer engagement are pretty obvious as well.
He's right about a lot of bad developers (and clueless execs) producing really crappy apps. He's wrong if he thinks that a lot of the bigger brands are still at that stage.
Want swipe page turns ? That can be done in web. Scrolling? Zooming? Etc etc can all be done with a website.
Apps have there place, but I don't think news readers are it.