Rupert Murdoch is creating a California version of the New York Post, his Right-wing tabloid.
The California Post is expected to begin publishing from next year and will be based in Los Angeles, where its news and sports coverage will resemble that of its sister paper.
Nick Papps, a veteran of Mr Murdoch’s News Corp, will edit the new publication, and will report to Keith Poole, the New York Post’s editor-in-chief.
A mock-up of a California Post frontpage was published on Monday, showing Alexander Hamilton – the Founding Father who set up the New York Post – sunbathing on the beach with the headline: “Los Angeles, here we come!”
A team of editors, reporters and photographers will be based in the city and cover the news from “a distinctly California perspective”, it reported.
Mr Poole suggested the California Post would bring a more balanced perspective to media coverage in the state, which has not elected a Republican governor in almost 20 years.
“California is the most populous state in the country, and is the epicentre of entertainment, the AI revolution and advanced manufacturing – not to mention a sports powerhouse,” he said in a statement.
“Yet many stories are not being told, and many viewpoints are not being represented.”
The Los Angeles area is said to be home to the second largest concentration of the newspaper’s readers.
California’s biggest paper, the Los Angeles Times, has faced recent financial difficulties, last year losing around $50m while laying off more than a fifth of its newsroom.
“Los Angeles and California surely need a daily dose of The Post as an antidote to the jaundiced, jaded journalism that has sadly proliferated,” said Robert Thomson, the chief executive of News Corp.
“We are at a pivotal moment for the city and the state, and there is no doubt that The Post will play a crucial role in engaging and enlightening readers, who are starved of serious reporting and puckish wit.”
Republican pockets in California
While California is traditionally seen as a Democratic stronghold, it has pockets of Republican dominance, particularly around Orange County. One of its cities, Huntington Beach, is known as the state’s “Maga capital”.
Even traditionally liberal hotspots like San Francisco have experienced a conservative backlash after years of drug and homelessness epidemics.
The Post’s expansion has been timed to coincide with a high profile period for California.
Statewide elections, including that for the next governor, are due to be held in November next year. Several Republicans are hopeful of breaking through after decades of Democratic dominance.
The state will host the 2026 Fifa World Cup and Los Angeles is the site of the 2028 Olympics.
Mr Murdoch, the 94-year-old press baron, has long had a fractious relationship with Donald Trump, and relations are currently at a low over the reporting of the US president’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
The Wall Street Journal, another News Corp publication, reported last month that Mr Trump had sent a lewd birthday letter to Epstein, the paedophile financier, that included the words: “We have certain things in common.”
The president has furiously denied writing or sending the letter, and is suing the Journal and Mr Murdoch after failing to halt the story being published.
Comments