Murdoch’s new Los Angeles paper is making a lot of noise. But is anyone listening?

To get to the newsroom of Los Angeles’ newest newspaper, you’ll need to take a ride across New York. Or at least the Fox Group’s version of it — a few blocks of imagined old Brooklyn lined with brownstone facades, rusty escape hatches and the kind of soot-stained concrete stoop on which Slip Mahoney and the rest of The Bowery Boys lounge among the capers.

Almost too perfectly, this is where Rupert Murdoch is California Post – An attempt by a conservative media mogul New York PostTabloid style for West Coast readers – I set up shop on the fourth floor of the 89 building in the back lot, overlooking the only place in Los Angeles that pretends to be Flatbush.

“I have to admit, it feels like home,” says Brooklyn-born Ian Mohr, one of those people. New York Post Editors who moved to Los Angeles to help start the newspaper. “I go downstairs, and it’s like I’m in New York. Except it’s quieter. There’s no one on the streets.”

Since late January, when its first edition hit newsstands — well, 7-Eleven counters; There are no longer any newsstands in Los Angeles — California Post It’s madly trying to make some noise, both the old-fashioned way, with eye-catching print headlines, as well as through a host of daily newsletters. It hounded Governor Gavin Newsom on homelessness, crime, gas prices and a slew of other hot-button issues (the governor’s office responded by dismissing the paper as a “California comic book”).

We’ve captured footage of the mayor (“The L.A. family that lost everything to a homeless fire, Salam Karen Bass”) and a host of other progressive politicians on City Hall (or, as… mail They are called “crazy extremists”). And it sure has been all over Hollywood. In reality, mailThe first cover story promised to lift the lid on one of the most talked about breakups in the industry. No, not Megan Thee Stallion and Klay Thompson, but rather “the shocking truth behind the Safdie Brothers’ mysterious split.”

says Nick Babs, a long-time Murdoch executive who parachuted in from Australia to become… California Posteditor. “The media has never seen anything like us in California before. We’re committed to common sense, telling people what it’s really like. A lot of people have private thoughts and don’t express them. We’re making sure we express those thoughts publicly.”

But here’s the thing: After three months of screaming headlines about a “secret socialist plot to take over our police” and hot stories about health code violations at the Peninsula Hotel’s rooftop restaurant, is anyone in California listening?

Somewhere there are numbers that could answer this question, but they are not expressed publicly. No one in California Post He will say how many print subscriptions have been sold or reveal any figures about newsletter sign-ups or open prices – or, for that matter, how much the operation has cost Murdoch, who is said to be 95, is said to be heavily involved in the project (as is his son Lachlan, who, according to friends, sees it as an opportunity to “plant his flag as boldly as his father once did”).

“Our subscriptions and sales have gone up exponentially,” is all one gets from Keith Paul, the first sun Editor who jumped ship from London in 2021 to become EIC for New York Post – Who is one of the hands behind the expansion of the newspaper? “It’s not crazy for us – print media is still a big part of our business, and a successful part,” he notes cheerfully. New York Post It is “the slowest declining newspaper in America.”

Of course, you don’t need an expert media analyst to tell you that releasing anything that involves ink in today’s media environment is realistic He is Crazy – especially in the business of killing newspapers like Los Angeles ( Herald-Examinerthe mirrorthe Daily newsthe ScoreThe list of the dead goes on and on.) However, here’s one anyway. former New York Post Media columnist Keith Kelly notes: “Did you know it’s harder now in America to get people to read? California has always been a leader in this area. It’s always been ahead of the curve. Californians weren’t reading in the 1970s.” According to Kelly, “It is impossible to create a newspaper market in California. History has shown that this market is doomed to failure.”

However, the Murdochs clearly see an opportunity, especially since their only competition is in Los Angeles times – It appears to be hanging on by its fingernails, and is getting rid of its staff (two of its top sports reporters have defected to… mail) while identifying editorial positions that left wide swaths of its readers confused (like that story a few years ago about how Los Angeles’ freeways are racist). For the Murdochs, the bet is that they can find the same kind of red-meat audience in places like Huntington Beach — and Beverly Hills — that helped bring huge success to their New York newspaper on Staten Island.

But, of course, Los Angeles is not New York. For one thing, it doesn’t have much of a subway, which is where tabloids were born to be read. On the other hand, Murdoch mails, even those published in the Fox group, tend to have a distinct novelty attitude. The high and powerful of Manhattan have grown accustomed to being exposed in its pages—it has become a rite of passage. If you can make headlines there, you can make them anywhere. But in Los Angeles, the skins, like everything else, are thinner.

After Eric Swalwell resigned from Congress over sexual misconduct allegations, for example, California Post He published a cheeky cover story listing prominent entertainment figures who, before the scandal broke, had donated to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign. The story — titled “Partners in the Mud” and including a doctored photo of the former congressman handcuffed and wearing a prison jumpsuit — may have raised some eyebrows in New York. But sources say THR Reports of CAA partner Bryan Lourd’s $12,500 donation sparked a firestorm at the agency. Imagine how things went at WME. Ari Emanuel reportedly donated $39,200.

“If you’re a journalist and you don’t want to bother people, you’re in the wrong business,” Babs says, waving off his complaints.

The only part of the newspaper that has to worry more about hurting celebrities’ feelings, of course, is Page Six, mailUnflattering gossip column. Here in California, the section has been given an unexpected makeover, moving from a chronicle of celebrity adulation to serious entertainment journalism. Recent stories included a deep dive into CAA’s battle with Range and a piece revealing interesting revelations about Swalwell, such as that he had a project in development at HBO and visited the set White lotus (Who knew?)

“It’s a little different from the traditional Page Six,” says Mohr, the veteran entertainment journalist who runs the section. “He still has the same DNA, but he’s not just a gossip anymore.”

For Moore and the other reporters taking calls and chasing leads at Building 89, there are some hopeful signs for the future — the paper is already starting to make some noise. You just have to listen very carefully. “To the extent that the industry has noticed mail“It’s mostly a nuisance and annoyance,” says one high-ranking entertainment executive.

It’s the beginning.

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