The California Post may not see print until next year, but the News Corp-backed newspaper has already started poaching some notable names from San Francisco’s news scene.
First announced in August, The California Post, is an expansion of the New York Post, which was founded in 1801 and is known for its bold, sometimes shocking headlines and its sharp stories about crime, scandal, sports, and opinion framed by owner Rupert Murdoch’s signature right-wing bent.
In an unsigned editorial from August about the launch on The New York Post’s website, the editors included a micro-survey that hinted at the California edition’s tone: Worst thing about California: “Homeless and druggies”; green agenda; high crime rates; off-the-chart taxes.
Three journalists have already jumped onboard: the Post’s new digital editor Joe Burn, editor-at-large Annie Gaus, and senior political reporter Josh Koehn. At the Standard, Burn served as news editor, Gaus as senior politics editor, and Koehn as the senior politics reporter.
Koehn announced his move in an X post on Monday morning, while Gaus and Burn did the same on Dec. 1 and Nov. 25, respectively. The journalists and incoming California Post editor-in-chief Nick Papps did not respond by press time to Gazetteer’s request for comment.
The California Post will be headquartered at the Fox studio lot in Los Angeles. The publication has also snagged Breitbart News editor-at-large Joel Pollak and two TMZ veterans: Brad Appleton, who will be a news editor alongside Burn, and Edward Lewis, who will be the senior sports reporter.
From 2016 until August, Papps was the editor of the weekend edition of Australia’s Herald Sun (which is also owned by News Corp), according to his LinkedIn profile.
Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, said in the August announcement that the new Post will be an “antidote” to the “jaundiced, jaded journalism that has sadly proliferated” in California.
“We are at a pivotal moment for the city and the state, and there is no doubt that The Post will play a crucial role in engaging and enlightening readers, who are starved of serious reporting and puckish wit,” Thomson said.
No details for the launch date of the California Post have been announced, but Gaus teased an “early 2026” debut and cited a planned print edition in her X announcement.
