The California Post’s Arrival Is Now Imminent

A new statewide newspaper from the New York Post Media Group, part of News Corp, is getting ready to join a media scene that could use more competition

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🕒 6.5 min read

A Long-Anticipated Break in California’s Media Monolith

For months, So, Does It Matter? readers have known this day was on the way. On August 4, I first reported that The California Post was being developed as a new statewide newspaper backed by the New York Post Media Group and made for California. Back then, it seemed promising but far off. Now it’s official, and we can see what’s coming.

The California Post will launch on January 26, just a few weeks from now. In the media world, that’s soon. For California, where news outlets have become fewer and more predictably liberally biased, this is a big deal.

“It’s time to hold the powerful to account and start fighting for hard-working Californians.” - Nick Papps, Editor-In-Chief, The California Post

What matters most about this launch isn’t the tabloid style or branding. It’s that this is one of the few real efforts in years to bring competition to a media scene that has become closed off. California is hugely important, but you can always find the state’s major media publications rated as left of center, or worse. Reading them every day, I concur.

This isn’t just a small digital project or a newsletter pretending to be a newsroom. The California Post will run seven days a week, offering print, digital, app, video, audio, and social media content. Its goal is to cover politics, public policy, culture, sports, and entertainment with the same urgency the New York Post is known for.

Leadership With Energy — and Urgency

Editor-in-Chief Nick Papps is leading this launch. After meeting with him on multiple occasions, I’ve noticed his focus and urgency. He isn’t treating this as just a branding or market test. He wants to build a newsroom that holds California’s political, corporate, and cultural leaders accountable.

Papps is a longtime News Corp editor, bringing decades of experience leading newsrooms and shaping coverage at major Australian newspapers, with deep familiarity with both domestic and United States media landscapes. That background shows. California is lacking in accountability-driven reporting that does not assume the answers before the questions are asked. Papps is keenly aware of that gap.

Since starting the job, he’s put together a top-notch team. This is important in a state where many experienced journalists have been let go, moved around, or separated, and where newsrooms have lost much of their shared knowledge.

I was especially pleased to see Joel Pollak hired as Opinion Editor. Pollak has years of experience shaping national and state commentary, and he made a big decision to leave his longtime job at Breitbart News Network for this role. I worked with him directly for several years when Breitbart had a California vertical, and he’s very good at making complex issues clear and engaging for readers. (I recently had Joel on as a podcast guest, which you can find here.)

Of particular interest to me, The Post has also hired experienced Los Angeles Times Dodgers writers Dylan Hernandez and Jack Harris. This shows the publication wants to compete for readers across all parts of California life, including sports.

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The Timing Could Not Be Better

The timing of this launch is intentional. California’s traditional media outlets are shrinking and focusing on less. And too often are an echo chamber for California’s ruling class. Many reporting areas have vanished, and local accountability stories are fewer. Too often, political coverage seems stuck in a closed circle, shaped by unchallenged assumptions.

This situation gives readers fewer options and less perspective. When one point of view shapes most public debates, important questions are missed. A new outlet with the resources and courage to challenge this will broaden the stories covered and change how they are told.

The California Post aims to be a statewide paper with a local feel, focusing on issues that matter to everyday Californians, not just political or media insiders. That already sets it apart from much of the current news coverage in the state.

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So, Does It Matter?

The California Post isn’t a cure-all, but it might be the first real attempt in years to challenge how things in California are usually covered.

Competition is important. So is perspective. But accountability matters most. A new outlet that asks tough questions and covers stories others miss can make a big difference, even in a busy media landscape.

It needs reporters and editors who are ready to cover the state as it really is, with all its contradictions and challenges. It needs an editorial page that is willing to be bold and plain-spoken. If The California Post can do that, it will be more than just another new paper. It will be a much-needed change, and one to watch.

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