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LA WATCHDOG - Some great news for a change. The New York Post, a NYC institution since 1801 when it was founded by Alexander Hamilton, announced that it will launch The California Post early next year, both as a home delivered tabloid and a robust website.
You can just imagine the fun that The California Post will have with the clowns that occupy Los Angeles City Hall and the Sacramento Capitol. And don’t forget the nutcases in San Franciso. We will love the puckish articles that skewer the politicians and their pet projects and financial folies. And even better, we will relish the tabloid covers that will follow in the footsteps of the world-famous front pages of The New York Post.
According to Chief Executive Officer of News Corp, the Post’s parent company, “Los Angeles and California surely 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.”
In Los Angeles, we are starving for news now that the prudish Los Angeles Times is continuing to downsize its newsroom and editorial staff to reduce its estimated $40 million annual deficit. On the other hand, The California Post is supported by the deep pockets of Rupert Murdoch, an experienced newspaper executive who controls The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and many other media outlets around the world.
As an aside, the Journal and its owners (Murdoch) are being sued by Trump over an article detailing a lewd birthday message Trump allegedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Do not expect the Journal to succumb to Trump’s threats, but rather to depose The Donald and to request numerous documents and records that may be more than embarrassing.
The California Post will also benefit from the online presence of NYPost.com and its 90 million unique visitors every month, of which 90% live outside of New York, including many in California, its second largest market of readers.
The California Post, like the New York Post, will have no shortage of opinions, many of which will not be well received by the spendthrifts at City Hall, the County Hall of Administration, and the Capitol. The Editorial staff will have a field day with the City’s self-induced fiscal follies, the cronyism at City Hall, our lunar crater streets and cracked sidewalk, and the self-serving public sector unions who own the City Council.
We can expect the political machine that controls the City, the County, and the State to trash The California Post because of its affiliation with the New York Post, Murdoch, and Fox News. Who cares. Let the war begin.
We are looking for greater transparency into the operations and financials of the City, the County, and the State. We are looking for viewpoint diversity and well thought out, middle of the road editorials. And this will just be in time for the race for governor, the mayor and the City Council, the propositions and measures, charter reform, the midterm elections, the continuing battles between Trump and the California political machine, and next year’s budgets.
2026 can’t come soon enough!
(Jack Humphreville writes the LA Watchdog column for CityWatch, where he covers city finances, utilities, and accountability at City Hall. He is President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, serves as the Budget and DWP representative for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and is a longtime Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. With a sharp focus on fiscal responsibility and transparency, Jack brings an informed and independent voice to Los Angeles civic affairs. He can be reached at [email protected].)
