\n<\/p>\n
Papps previously served as News Corp Australia\u2019s Los Angeles correspondent from 2004 to 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor and the LA Lakers were enduring the breakup of the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O\u2019Neal dynasty.<\/p>\n
On a recent fall afternoon, Poole and Papps are in an upbeat mood in the New York Post<\/em> newsroom. In his corner office on the 10th floor of the News Corp building, between sips of English breakfast tea, Poole reels off the coverage areas the California Post<\/em> will hammer: criminal justice, big government, burdensome regulations, high taxes, homelessness, mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are not really talked about there in any meaningful way by the outlets, in the way that we would do it at least,\u201d Poole says, in a not unsubtle jab at the Los Angeles Times.<\/em><\/p>\n Poole has an ambition for the New York Post<\/em> to be \u201cAmerica\u2019s local paper,\u201d and it became profitable, he says, about four years ago. Now the bean counters at News Corp have devised a five-year business plan for the California Post,<\/em> whose reporters will cover LA, Silicon Valley, and the capital, Sacramento.<\/p>\n Poole says the inspiration for the California Post<\/em> in part occurred after the January LA wildfires,<\/a> when he heard from people in LA and across the state who wanted his paper to hold local politicians to account. The Cali Post<\/em> wouldn\u2019t be the first new media venture born out of some of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the state. Spencer Pratt lost his Pacific Palisades home in the wildfires. The devastating event inspired the episode \u201cRebuilding After the Palisades Fires\u201d on The<\/em> Fame Game,<\/em> a podcast that Pratt cohosts with his wife, Heidi.<\/p>\n While the economics of launching a newspaper in 2026 don\u2019t make much sense (\u201cLA is not a newsstand town,\u201d an LA-based communications consultant tells me. \u201cEveryone drives. I think that\u2019s important.\u201d), LA media observers tell me they view this as an influence play.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve got to have some fun as well,\u201d Papps tells me about his vision for the California Post.<\/em> \u201cLA is an amazing, amazing city and California is an amazing state.\u201d (You wouldn\u2019t know it from watching some Fox News<\/a> shows, where prime-time hosts including Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity are vocal critics lambasting California as a liberal failed state.)<\/p>\n Murdoch has entertained the idea of launching a California edition of the Post<\/em> for years, I\u2019m told. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson and his chief strategy officer, Anoushka Healy, have also been instrumental in pulling the trigger on an LA version of the New York Post.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n