Murdochs launch California newspaper as they grapple with Trump

3 months ago 17

Amid a tense legal battle between United States President Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch, News Corp is launching a new right-wing tabloid in Los Angeles.

Nick Papps, the weekend editor of Melbourne’s The Herald Sun, will become the first editor-in-chief of The California Post, a new daily print product. The announcement comes just one year after Murdoch claimed print papers have as little as 15 years left.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is launching a new right-wing tabloid in Los Angeles.

The New York Post Media Group announced the launch of the Post’s West Coast counterpart overnight. News Corp’s Australian boss Michael Miller confirmed Papps’ move on Tuesday morning.

“The New York Post is going Hollywood,” the company said in a statement, adding that The California Post will bring the Post’s “brand of fearless, common-sense journalism” and “legendary headlines” when it launches next year.

A new print product is a rare launch in the publishing industry. Last year, Murdoch predicted that print news has fewer than 15 years remaining, with circulation and print advertising both in structural decline.

The paper bragged about its influence in its announcement, stating that President Trump keeps a framed copy of the newspaper’s front page outside the Oval Office.

Murdoch, global News Corp boss Robert Thomson and the company are facing a legal battle with Trump, after the president sued the Wall Street Journal over a story it published in July, detailing a personal letter with a racy drawing allegedly sent by Trump to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein two decades ago.

Trump has sought to have the 94-year-old Murdoch forced to answer questions under oath within weeks, arguing his age and health could rule him out of appearing at any trial, when it comes.

Thomson said both Los Angeles and California need a daily dose of The Post as an “antidote to the jaundiced, jaded journalism that has sadly proliferated”.

“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.”

The new publication is set to launch next year.

The paper will be based in Los Angeles. While it said its editors, reporters and photographers will all bring a distinctly Californian perspective to news, News Corp has enlisted an Australian editor to launch the publication. Papps spent two years as a correspondent in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2006.

Most of his career has been in roles at the Herald Sun, most recently as weekend editor after standalone editor positions for Saturday and Sunday papers were abolished nationally last year across News Corp’s tabloids.

He was also previously editor of the Geelong Advertiser. Current Advertiser editor Nadja Fleet was spotted at News Corp’s Southbank offices last week and is thought of as the front-runner to be named as Papps’ replacement.

News Corp has a long history of appointing staff from its Australian business, or with Australian origins, to global or local positions in the US. Thomson, the company’s global CEO, hails from Victoria, while Col Allen was editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph before being appointed to edit The New York Post, a job held for 15 years.

Another former Australian editor, Frank Devine, was appointed by Rupert Murdoch to edit both the Chicago Sun-Times and later The New York Post.

The largest daily newspaper in Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Times, suffered significant backlash in 2024 after its owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, instructed its editor and editorial board not to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The Times also cut around 20 per cent of its staff last year.

The New York Post is known for its flashy and salacious headlines, gossip and sports coverage, all with a firm right-wing perspective. The California Post will launch in the lead up to next year’s California gubernatorial election, in which the current governor and Trump opponent Gavin Newsom will not be running.

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