The News
The California Post is betting its buzzy launch on a war with Gov. Gavin Newsom — and the only surprise so far is the governor’s unbridled enthusiasm for a fight with Rupert Murdoch’s new West Coast tabloid.
The California Post launched last week as a West Coast offshoot of the right-leaning politics, news, and entertainment paper founded in New York by Alexander Hamilton in 1801, with hopes of shaking up a declining news scene and to shifting the media narrative in a state dominated by Democrats since Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to acting in 2011.
The governor has taken the approach to the tabloid that has characterized his treatment of other critics on the right. He has been railing relentlessly on social media against the paper and its political journalism — much of which, unsurprisingly, has been focused on his own shortcomings.
Behind the scenes, Newsom’s staff have taken a similar approach and tone, calling for the tabloid to change language in stories that the team feels is inaccurate or misleading.
In a series of emails to the Post last week shared with Semafor, Newsom Chief Deputy Director of Communications Tara Gallegos admonished the paper over various details of its articles.
The Post recently published a story saying Newsom had been “roasted” by Bill Essayli, the Trump-appointed US attorney for the Central District of California. The Post christened him “California’s top federal prosecutor” over a fraud investigation that resulted in the recent arrest of a Westwood man accused of obtaining millions of dollars intended to go towards combating homelessness in Los Angeles.
Gallegos said the story lacked context, arguing Post did not give credit for the arrest to Los Angeles authorities for their role in the arrest. She said the Post had overstated Essayli’s role.
“We know The New York Comic Book is just a tabloid held to no real journalistic principles, but your story needs updating,” Gallegos wrote to the story’s author.
“It is laughable that First ASSISTANT Billy Essayli is taking any credit for this investigation or that you’re reporting Billy launched a task force in 2024, before Trump was even in office and when Billy was still a state assemblymember. LAHSA and the LA City Controller conducted this investigation to get the goods, NOT little Billy! What’s even more laughable is your characterization of Billy as the state’s top prosecutor. There are currently four ACTUAL U.S. Attorneys for California’s four federal judicial districts --- but he isn’t one of them! Little Billy was demoted to FIRST ASSISTANT, because a court ruled his appointment was illegal.”
In a separate email titled “CORRECTION NEEDED - Misinformation”, Gallegos flagged Newsom’s tweet saying a Post story that reported his $236 million program for California’s mentally ill “has helped just 22 people in four years” was “false,” and criticized the paper for failing to reach out for comment.
“Again reaching out tell you that you need to correct a story because you failed to verify publicly available data (or call our office for confirmation) and instead you used another Murdoch owned publication as a citation source. The California Comic Book is off to a bad start. Please correct your story immediately,” she said.
The governor’s office sent at least four requests for corrections to the Post, one person familiar with the situation told Semafor. Somehow that was even fewer than Newsom’s public calls for corrections; the governor’s Twitter account tweeted at the Post seeking corrections five times.
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For its part, the Post has run headlong into battle with the most powerful politician in the state and one of the most visible figures in Democratic politics.
In an email to Semafor, New York Post Media Group Editor-in-Chief Keith Poole argued that Newsom simply isn’t used to receiving the kind of scrutiny that the Post brings to the targets of its coverage, and said that many California readers were already cheering on the paper’s journalists.
“The Quiff doth protest too much! We’re flattered that Gavin Newsom has decided to use our enormous platform to raise his budding national profile and bid for president,” Poole said. “Meanwhile, we will not waver in scrutinizing his record, something he is unaccustomed to in California. While he has attacked our reporting with the supposed imprimatur of an official government account, you can see from the comments on his posts that Californians are crying out for more fearless reporting. Just because a governor says something, it doesn’t mean it’s true.”
He continued: “Someone please tell the Governor that 2020 is calling and wants its word ‘misinformation’ back. The Post has always been accused of ‘misinformation’ by spinning politicians, but from Hunter Biden, BLM and Covid to Biden’s failing health, it has been consistently proven right. We look forward to having a continuing and healthy dialogue with him.”
(Newsom’s office’s response: “We didn’t realize a tabloid could get this triggered. We respect whatever they need to tell themselves — and wish them well in therapy.“)
Some of the governor’s office’s pleas did seem to work. The Post subsequently updated its story, changing the description of Essayli from “California’s top federal prosecutor” to “The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.” The paper also changed its assertion that “Governor Gavin Newsom’s $236M program for California’s mentally ill has helped just 22 people in four years” to “Gavin Newsom shoots down claim $236M program for California’s mentally ill has helped just 22 people in four years.” One Post staffer acknowledged it had made minor corrections, but argued to Semafor that the tabloid had not materially changed any of its stories.
The launch of the California Post represents two bets by News Corp., which backed the New York Post as other urban tabloids — from the Chicago Sun-Times to the Boston Herald to New York’s once-great Daily News — slid into steep decline.
The first is a bet that Californians fed up with Democratic leadership — a common sentiment among some state residents, after COVID-era chaos in San Francisco and last year’s devastating fires in Los Angeles — are thirsty for a critical media viewpoint of the state’s governance and culture, and for sensational stories about crime, homelessness, and left-wing politics run amok.
The Post would not be the first right-leaning media in the state. Conservative talk radio has long dominated the commutes of California Republicans, many of whom once spent their mornings reading local newspaper opinion pages that leaned right. (As someone who grew up in Orange County, it was once easy to tell the politics of families in the neighborhood by which houses received the Los Angeles Times and which got the Orange County Register.)
But these have been hollowed out significantly in recent years, leaving what News Corp. believes is a potential opening for aggressive tabloid-style reporting with a critical view of Democratic state politicians and local figures in blue areas like Los Angeles and the Bay Area. In its first days, the Post has published numerous critical stories about Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and has pushed popular narratives on the right, such as stories about dangerous LA anarchists, “woke officials,” and residents fleeing California. The new California Post Editorial Board has written critically of the state’s proposed billionaire tax (which Newsom also opposes), and bashed a “leftist culture of violence and intimidation” among protesters in LA.
The Post’s second bet is on the viability of text at a moment when fewer people are reading articles online, and as tech platforms are cannibalizing search traffic and directing users away from news.
At a time when local print media has shrunk significantly across the United States, the launch of the California Post represents one of the most notable investments in text-based media in California in years. The Post launched with a daily print edition, along with a web app and online articles. And The New York Times reported last week that the Post has hired 80 staffers, immediately making it one of the largest newsrooms in the state.
The paper is part of the beginnings of a small renaissance in California news publishing, inspired in part by years of internal turmoil at the Los Angeles Times.
In Northern California, the Michael Moritz-backed San Francisco Standard continues to ramp up its ambitions to be a kind of glossy, digital West Coast alternative to New York Magazine, and recently brought on a high-profile new editor, Kevin Delaney. In Los Angeles last month, a local collective of journalists launched LA Local, a nonprofit journalism project that was the result of surveys of local residents seeking to understand what kind of news they wish to see in LA (and where). Former LA Times editor Kevin Merida sits on its board. Former top LA Times editor Julia Turner is preparing to launch a new for-profit California-focused magazine-style outlet, L.A. Material, in the coming weeks with Julia Wick and former Crooked Media COO Sarah Wick.
The state also has its share of new Substacks: Former LA Times opinion editor Mariel Garza founded Golden State on Substack after resigning from the paper in 2024 over its non=endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Karin Klein is the inaugural editor of LA Reported, a new Substack from Scott Woolley.
There have been some early hiccups for a New York-based paper that is currently edited by an Aussie LA transplant. During its first week, The Post identified El Monte as Los Angeles, which some Southern California natives immediately pointed out is in fact a nearby suburb. And Post’s reputation as a right-leaning tabloid was not lost on some liberal critics, who made their feelings heard to less-online members of the local community: After the Post bought out a Yeastie Boys bagel truck for its first week, the paper’s critics knocked the bakery’s decision to partner with the paper, and Yeastie Boys took down social media posts celebrating the partnership.
Still, the paper has been encouraged by early signs from its first week.
One person familiar said the paper had surpassed its internal expectations in traffic, app downloads, and print subscriptions, though a Post spokesperson declined to elaborate on what those were.
Max’s view
The launch of the California Post and what appears to be serious investment in the project from News Corp. is a headache for Newsom and other Democratic leaders in the state.
The powerful Murdoch media empire has been the source of criticism from Democrats for years, particularly in New York City, where the New York Post has relentlessly criticized, mocked, and uncovered negative stories about its Democratic mayors and politicians. In New York, the publication dogged former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s progressive policies and his personal life, covering everything from his gym visits to his divorce in cringe-inducing detail.
Newsom appears to be trying a more aggressive strategy that his team hopes can work to turn negative stories to his advantage. By fighting openly with the California Post in its infancy, Newsom’s team appears to be hoping to define and discredit the publication early among California audiences. It’s also a part of Newsom’s scorched earth online communications strategy, which focuses on bashing and mocking Republicans and conservative media figures. The campaign appears to be working to boost the governor’s image among liberals, who would be an important voting bloc if Newsom runs for president in 2028.
This may be win-win for all involved. The Post gets more attention for its content, while Newsom scores points with his base by reminding readers of the connection between the Post and the Murdochs.
It’s early days, and both parties still have a bit of work to do to get the feud right. The nicknames aren’t really that inspiring on either side just yet. On the Newsom side, “California Comic Book” is too long and cumbersome. The Post’s out-of-state Aussie and British leadership should also be aware that “Quiff” isn’t as recognizable a word to Americans as it is to Brits or Australians. I’m sure both sides will up their game soon.
The View From Los Angeles
A year removed from the LA wildfires, many California media watchers have been frustrated by the lack of scrutiny of top leaders, and seeming lack of political accountability for the disaster.
Adam Mendelsohn, a communications adviser and former deputy chief of staff to Schwarzenegger as governor, said there’s an appetite in California for greater accountability under what is essentially single-party rule.
“Between the fires the homelessness the existential threat to the entertainment industry, there’s just a general concern about the failures of the leadership particularly in the city of LA, and I think for a lot of people who may not necessarily agree with the politics of the Post, the idea that there’s another outlet that’s driving awareness for these failures is welcome,” he told Semafor.
Notable
- The Post hopes to tap into the vibrant California sports media market, where it has had more success with early high-profile access. The paper got a warm reception from one of the state’s most notable franchises, the Los Angeles Dodgers, which shared a message welcoming the new West Coast tabloid to town. And the paper got an exclusive interview with Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic, which included on the record comments from Mark Cuban and LeBron James.
- Last year, Zohran Mamdani successfully pulled off a longshot bid for mayor despite strong opposition from the Post and from The New York Times’ opinion section, largely by running a campaign fueled by circumventing old media with buzzy viral videos and stunts. Mamdani’s team learned to use the Post to its advantage in limited ways, posting screengrabs of New York Post headlines intended to upset conservative readers that the campaign thought made Mamdani look good. “The Post had scary headlines,” former Mamdani communications advisor Andrew Epstein told Semafor last year. “We’d put them on Instagram and Twitter and they would go viral. The populist economic stuff was good for us.”