New York Post
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The New York Post is one of the oldest (and according to some definitions, the oldest) of the newspapers still published in the United States. It reminds its readers daily, it was founded by Alexander Hamilton in 1801. In 1933 it became a tabloid. It was owned by Dorothy Schiff for much of the 20th Century, but after it was bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1977 it redefined "tabloid journalism" and attracted attention with its famous 1983 headline:
- HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR
In 1980, the Columbia Journalism Review called the Post "a force for evil." Many in "mainstream" journalism seem to feel that the Post allows its editorial positions to shape its story selection and news coverage to an unacccpetable degree. As Steven D. Cuozzo, the Post executive editor, sees it, it was the Post that "broke the elitist media stranglehold on the national agenda." Post supporters cite a series of recent scandals at the supposedly-reputable broadsheet New York Times as proof that this problem is scarcely unique to the Post. Although the Post takes consistently right-wing editorial positions, it is very difficult to find well-respected or popular right-wing opinion makers who seem to take it seriously, frequently cite it, or even trumpet its almost invariably right-wing lineup of editorial candidate and issue endorsements. This even seems largely to apply to another Murdoch-controlled media operation, FOX News, which seems to do fairly little to promote the credibility or raise the profile of the Post.
The Post ran through a series of unsteady owners after 1977: Peter S. Kalikow, a real estate magnate who went bankrupt; Steven Hoffenberg, a financier who pleaded guilty to securities fraud; and Abraham D. Hirschfeld, a true eccentric who made his fortune building parking garages. The Post was repurchased in 1988 by Murdoch's News Corporation and has taken a consistently conservative editorial viewpoint since being re-acquired by Murdoch after its near-insolvency in 1993. Peter Kalikow briefly acquired the paper in between Murdoch's two stints as owner due to the institution of federal regulations limiting foreign media ownership, Murdoch's receiving American citizenship ended any restriction upon his ownership of U.S. media. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks it has had a pro-war stance on the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has also supported Israel, as do other New York newspapers to some extent. Its sports section has been praised for its comprehensiveness; like that of many other tabloids, it begins on the back page. Some readers who have no use for its editorial positions or its hard news stories purchase it for its sports coverage alone. Pete Hamill began his career at the Post.
On July 6, 2004, hours before Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry announced his selection of Sen. John Edwards as his running mate, the Post published a front page story headlined:
- KERRY'S CHOICE Dem picks Gephardt as VP candidate
– stating that Kerry had instead selected Dick Gephardt. Rupert Murdoch was believed by many to be the source of the erroneous story. The negative publicity generated by this error was enormous, but publicity nonetheless. To its credit, the paper ran an equally large retraction headline the next day and placed the blame for the error squarely upon itself.
The daily circulation of the Post has slumped from 700,000 in the late 1960s to approximately 418,000 today. Despite being one of New York City's most widely-read newspapers, reports made public in 1993 suggest that the Post has been run at a loss, but continues to be supported by Rupert Murdoch to keep a conservative newspaper in the City. When Rupert Murdoch once asked the chairman of Bloomingdale's why he wasn't buying ads in the Post, he was told "because, dear Rupert, your readers are my shop-lifters."[1]
The New York Post is also well known for its gossip columnists Liz Smith, Cindy Adams and Elisa Lipsky-Karasz. The most well known gossip section is 'Page Six', edited by Richard Johnson, which counterintuitively never runs on page six of the paper each day. It is reported that "Page Six" is the first thing many celebrities turn to each morning.
External links
ja:ニューヨーク・ポスト
