California Schemin'

Even newspapers can have Hollywood ambitions. As the New York Post colonizes Los Angeles, its editors reveal big future plans, and, as LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT reports, onlookers are welcoming the California news wars

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Lady Gaga. NYPD Blue. Bruno Mars. The original Batman. And now a tabloid newspaper.

On the Fox lot in Century City sits an iconic New York set, made to look like Lower Manhattan, that has seen many an act, many a scene, grace its fake mean streets. The set was originally built to film Hello, Dolly! at a cost of $2.25 million, making it one of the costliest at the time; so significant was the lot's history that when Bob Iger began wooing Rupert Murdoch for the Walt Disney Company to buy 21st Century Fox, his son Lachlan was adamant that Fox keep that piece of real estate.

Early next year, the Fox lot will be the home of the California Post. And it will still be a scene—a massive undertaking from the Murdochs, and likely Murdoch père's final major newspaper endeavor. The family and the editors may see opportunity as California's news desert dries up at the same time the state's political landscape and the rise of the tech oligarchy are among the biggest stories in America.

A target-rich environment of left-leaning politicians, celebrities, sports superstars, and Silicon Valley billionaires makes California ripe for tabloid treatment. And with the Olympics, World Cup, the rise of AI, and a governor's race to come, California will be a sexy story for the next several years. But will Californians—known for their liberalism—take to the new entrant that tilts conservative? And how much news will be covered, or will the California Post pack its pages by trolling Hollywood and needling Governor Gavin Newsom?

The California Post is not the first East Coast media entity to push west. Politico in 2023 expanded within California. The New York Times has also been adding resources on the West Coast. Before Bari Weiss was named editor in chief of CBS News, she founded The Free Press in Los Angeles.