{"id":148028,"date":"2026-01-24T17:43:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148028\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T17:43:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T17:43:34","slug":"we-want-to-be-disruptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/148028\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We Want to Be Disruptors\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

On an 80-degree day in January, I found myself strolling down a brownstone-dotted New York street \u2014 at least it appeared that way. The street, modeled after late 19th-century Lower Manhattan, was built in 1967 for the film adaptation of \u201cHello, Dolly!\u201d and refurbished during Hollywood\u2019s 2023 strikes<\/a>, a fitting set for productions seeking Big Apple flavor. Or, in this case, an upstart newspaper aiming to take the \u201cDNA of the New York Post\u201d and filter it through \u201ca California lens,\u201d as California Post editor-in-chief Nick Papps put it to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have the wit of the New York Post headlines, which is really important to it,\u201d Papps said in his office suite on the Fox lot, the walls littered with framed California-themed New York Post covers. There\u2019s Gov. Gavin Newsom and Kobe Bryant, O.J. Simpson and Paris Hilton \u2014 a reflection of the paper\u2019s long-running preoccupations with politics, sports, scandal and celebrity. Papps was dressed in a button-down shirt with his sleeves rolled up, jeans and, ironically, New York-branded socks. (\u201cA parting gift\u201d from his wife, he said, after a stay in New York to prepare for the Post\u2019s launch.)<\/p>\n

The newsroom is something of a coastal mash-up, melding the paper\u2019s brash legacy in New York and its aspirations in the West. There\u2019s a cartoony rendering of New York Post founder and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton overlooking Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Pier reflected in his sunglasses. A sign nearby counts down the days until the paper\u2019s Jan. 26 launch, as neatly dressed reporters hammer out stories for the New York Post\u2019s website until the California edition launches. Newspaper racks hold dummy copies of the forthcoming paper\u2019s print edition.<\/p>\n

\"CaliforniaCalifornia Post editor-in-chief Nick Papps (Credit: Stewart Cook for California Post)<\/p>\n

While the California Post newsroom may have the feel of a quirky start-up, it\u2019s the latest extension of billionaire Rupert Murdoch\u2019s global media empire and a test of whether a sibling to the New York Post, the pugnacious tabloid known for pillorying the city\u2019s liberal elite, will find an audience in Democratic-led L.A. There\u2019s no shortage of characters \u2014 or villains, depending on your politics \u2013\u00a0for the California Post to zero in on, including embattled<\/a> L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Newsom, a vocal Trump antagonist and likely 2028 Democratic contender. An adversarial, populist approach may appeal to disaffected liberals and conservatives alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To Papps, the California Post will provide \u201cthe voice of common sense\u201d in the local media market. \u201cBy that I mean, \u2018What is the everyday person in California [thinking] of this issue?\u2019 And we\u2019ll be talking to them,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo it\u2019s not going to be something for a very small sector. It\u2019s clearly a mass market play in everything we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, launching a print newspaper, of all things, in 2026, is a risky undertaking. But Rupert and son Lachlan Murdoch, who serves as CEO of Fox Corp and Chairman of Post-owner News Corp, clearly see an opening in L.A.\u2019s dwindling media market. Even as some local media initiatives<\/a> make headway in the city \u2014 and outlets such as this one closely cover Hollywood \u2014 the Los Angeles Times, long the dominant force in daily coverage, has faced years of financial strain and staff departures, giving the Post an opportunity to both stock up on local journalistic talent and compete for readers in print and online. Timing is also on the Murdochs\u2019 side, with an L.A. mayoral race, California gubernatorial race and FIFA World Cup playing out in 2026. The L.A. Olympics are also just two years away.<\/p>\n

\u201cLos Angeles, in particular, is becoming the center of the universe,\u201d Fred Cook, a professor and the director of the Center for Public Relations at the University of Southern California, told TheWrap. \u201cAll eyes are on California. I think that\u2019s an important factor. I\u2019m not sure that the Post is the right media outlet, but there certainly are gaps in the media in this market, it could be filled by someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DummyDummy copies of the paper are scattered throughout the Post\u2019s newsroom (Credit: Stewart Cook for California Post)<\/p>\n

Building a new newsroom\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like the elder Murdoch, Papps was born in Australia. But his son, now 19, was born at Cedars-Sinai, and Papps shares fond memories of strolling down Santa Monica\u2019s Third Street Promenade with his wife Karen. That\u2019s because Papps served as News Corp. Australia\u2019s L.A. correspondent from 2004-2006.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe news cycle has changed,\u201d Papps told me. \u201cWhat hasn\u2019t changed is, it\u2019s still a great state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, there are challenges, as Papps pointed to crime and homelessness as pressing topics for the paper to tackle. The opinion section will be manned by former Breitbart editor Joel Pollak, as TheWrap previously reported,<\/a> and the paper is close to its goal of hiring 80 to 100 staffers across all its divisions.<\/p>\n

Hollywood and sports are the areas where the Post has invested most significantly in growing its teams, luring the New York Post\u2019s Page Six editor Ian Mohr \u2014 \u201ca complete legend,\u201d\u00a0Papps said \u2014 out west to launch \u201cPage Six Hollywood.\u201d \u201c Since then, the gossip column has added<\/a> star Variety entertainment reporter Tatiana Siegel, Hollywood Reporter veteran Peter Kiefer and former Axios and TheWrap reporter Tim Baysinger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the best connected, trusted \u2014 that\u2019s really important,\u201d\u00a0Papps said. \u201cThey\u2019re people that, over decades, have built up great relationships. So that\u2019s why we\u2019ve got them on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its sports desk, manned by former Minnesota Star Tribune sports editor Ryan Kostecka, has been especially active in recruiting from the Times. It hired away sports writers Dylan Hernandez and Dodgers beat writer Jack Harris, the hosts of the Times\u2019 only sports podcast \u201cDodgers Debate,\u201d and last week, veteran sportswriter Ben Bolch said<\/a> he would join the paper as a senior college sports writer.<\/p>\n

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The moves have left the Times, which once maintained one of the deepest benches of sports journalists in the nation, with reportedly nine full-time sports staff writers<\/a>. (A Times spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n

Papps said he doesn\u2019t \u201cnecessarily look at [the Times] as rivals\u201d and spends little time stressed about Penske outlets, such as Variety or the Hollywood Reporter. He noted that the Times and other L.A. media projects have had financial challenges, speculating whether they\u2019ve done enough to connect with their local audiences. \u201cDo I lay awake at night worrying about [the] L.A. Times or other media outlets? No,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in talent, and if I see the people with talent, then obviously we\u2019re going to be interested in them,\u201d Papps said. \u201cWhat I worry about is making sure that what we put out digitally and in print is the best journalism that the state\u2019s ever seen. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can the Post make it work?<\/p>\n

The California Post is launching on a stronger financial footing than most other startups could dream of, courtesy of News Corp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The New York Post has been profitable for the last four years, a spokesperson told me, and News Corp. chief executive Robert Thomson has spoken to the upstart\u2019s ambitions. \u201cLos Angeles and California surely need a daily dose of The Post as an antidote to the jaundiced, jaded journalism that has sadly proliferated,\u201d Thomson said alongside the August announcement. It\u2019s brought its case directly to the city\u2019s residents, posting flyers throughout L.A. that urge people to \u201clive in two states: California and reality\u201d in what a spokesperson said is one of the biggest marketing investments in the Post\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The California Post has a long-term business plan, according to Papps, but he doesn\u2019t have to fixate on profitability as the paper gets off the ground. Papps said he speaks to Poole multiple times a day, but declined to say whether he regularly speaks to Rupert or Lachlan Murdoch, only saying the pair were \u201cthe great champions of the media and free speech.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t begin to tell you how fortunate we have been, having the support of News Corp. from the highest levels of the company,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The New York Post has said its second-largest media market is L.A., and it plans to be in 678 stores for $3.75 an issue throughout L.A. and San Diego at launch before gradually rolling out throughout the state. (A spokesperson said it was too early to tell what its precise annual circulation numbers will be.)<\/p>\n

But while New York has roughly 300 newsstands,<\/a> L.A. has a paltry seven<\/a>, making newsstands unlikely to be a huge revenue driver. And while both states share a similar composition<\/a> of Democrats and Republicans (roughly 45% to 23%), Trump lost California by 20 points compared to his 12-point margin in New York, indicating the Post has a robust challenge of trying to find an audience of conservatives eager for its acerbic tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media contributes enormously to the polarization, along with politicians, and the media are the primary cause of the polarization, and I think the Post thrives on that,\u201d said Cook, the USC director, suggesting the launch will create \u201cmore discord in the market than we need right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA cartoony rendering of New York Post founder and former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton overlooking Los Angeles meets you as you enter the Post\u2019s offices (Credit: Stewart Cook for California Post)<\/p>\n

The California Post will rely on national coverage from its East Coast sibling\u2019s reporters and editors in New York and Washington, leaving its local newsroom to focus on local political figures, such as Bass and Newsom. \u201cThose people, they\u2019re important figures, both those people in our state, and I\u2019m very keen to sit down to interview with them,\u201d Papps said. (Another person on the list is Trump, an avid New York Post fan, though he said he hasn\u2019t spoken to the president.)<\/p>\n

One could trace the core of the Post\u2019s political DNA back to 1801, when Hamilton founded the New York Evening Post as a broadsheet meant to counter the rise of the Democratic-Republican Party. Nearly 225 years and various tonal and political shifts in the paper later, I asked Papps how he thinks Hamilton would feel about the Post\u2019s expansion westward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think he\u2019d put on the wayfarers,\u201d Papps said of cartoon Hamilton\u2019s oversized sunglasses.<\/p>\n

Papps thinks Hamilton would be proud to see his New York creation go national, bridging the Founding Father\u2019s desire to create a contrarian newspaper in New York to Thomson\u2019s declaration to investors<\/a> last year that \u201csoon, all will not be quiet on the western front.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is really important to me and to our team,\u201d Papps told me. \u201cWe want to be disruptors. We want to challenge status quos. We want to shake things up. We want to put our readers first in digital and print, at all we do, and that, I think, is a pretty important motto \u2014 to make some noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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