We've always gotten the Post. It irritates me because it's the hometown paper that hates NYC. And i know New Yorkers who rely upon it as their news source. And THAT really drives me crazy. Still, we will always get it. Great objective assessment.
When I was head of the school board at Rodeph Sholom, the nursery school decided that it wouldn't celebrate Mothers Day in school because some kids, including kids with two dads, didn't have a mother. The Post got ahold of that and its front page headline was SCHOOL CANCELS MOTHERS DAY. The rabbi at the time wanted to respond forcefully to The Post but I convinced him not to because it would have just prolonged the story and you never fight The Post.
I think the big problem the Daily News has is that you buy the tabloids for edgy, bad-taste attitude (I still remember, ten years on, its DIARRHEA OF A MADMAN wood) but it's hard to do that from the Generic Democrat perspective without looking, erm, "cringe." Jimmy Kimmel liberalism is very much not in vogue right now.
Your piece seethes with resentment against The NY Post's success and the paper's crusades on issues such as congestion pricing. The NY Post's true status as an underdog was revealed when it published the first stories on Hunter Biden's laptop, but was censored by Twitter and roundly ignored by the rest of the media -- until more than a year after Biden's election. The Post was also blasted by the White House and NYT. among other media, for running "fakes" after a front page story and headline on a wandering, confused Biden. The NYT quickly reversed itself after Biden's debate with Trump, but never retracted its criticism of the Post, which proved spot on.
This gets conveniently forgotten. The Post got it right about Biden's decline, and the laptop story was real. That the Organ of the MIC, the NY Times, censored and spun the story, is expected. That the Times' readers went with it is disappointing, to say the least.
What a great angle for learning something about NYC.
Here’s a larger question that came up for me while reading:
With such a predominance of right wing media in general why does the non-aligned and centre left media seem to bear the brunt of accusations of censorship and bias? Is it because they stake a claim to and we hold them to higher standards? (I guess I’m thinking of the NYTs specifically.)
An aside, but the absurdity of congestion pricing is that it penalizes commercial trucks to the tune of $15-20. Also, not sure if you ride the trains, but I often see 4 to 5 people avoid fare every day on my Manhattan-Bronx commute. I don’t own a car, but it seems like congestion pricing should penalize B&T day trippers and commuters who should be using mass transit, not truck drivers delivering goods and providing services to Manhattan businesses, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, etc. Also, the MTA should solve the fare evasion issue and, more importantly, audit their management and contractors.
Bravo to Ross for such a trenchant survey of NYC’s media landscape. I’ve lived here 40 years and learned a ton.
To the Post’s selling points let’s add their local monopoly on creative headlines, sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating. The classic example remains: “Headless Body Found in Topless Bar.”
The Post has also been an important guilty pleasure, as captured in their delightful “Three Lies” ad campaign in the 80s, to wit:
I like the Post because they gleefully use words like “maniac” and “perv” and “sicko” in their news columns to describe, well, maniacs, pervs, and sickos. It is so devoid of information that it only takes a few minutes to read. Then my day is brighter.
Hold on a minute. Do you mean that "mentally unstable", "minor attracted person", or "developmentally limited socio economic victim" doesn't do it for you?
Good piece. Is the conventional wisdom still that the Post loses tons of money, and Murdoch is willing to eat the losses, but once he's gone, his heirs might not feel the same way?
Also, I was always amused when the Post's cops-are-good-criminals-are-disgusting-vermin ethos got disturbed whenever they wrote about the mob, who the Post always treated as the coolest dudes ever (although that was mostly the late Steve Dunleavy.)
Growing up on Long Island it went The Daily News > Newsday > The Post, based solely on the comics page. But only our grandmother subscribed to the Daily News so Long Island only got to read it on Sundays.
We've always gotten the Post. It irritates me because it's the hometown paper that hates NYC. And i know New Yorkers who rely upon it as their news source. And THAT really drives me crazy. Still, we will always get it. Great objective assessment.
When I was head of the school board at Rodeph Sholom, the nursery school decided that it wouldn't celebrate Mothers Day in school because some kids, including kids with two dads, didn't have a mother. The Post got ahold of that and its front page headline was SCHOOL CANCELS MOTHERS DAY. The rabbi at the time wanted to respond forcefully to The Post but I convinced him not to because it would have just prolonged the story and you never fight The Post.
I hear you, but the Post was right. Those aren’t good reasons not to celebrate Mothers Day.
The Post was in the right. Educators should stop embarrassing themselves.
I think the big problem the Daily News has is that you buy the tabloids for edgy, bad-taste attitude (I still remember, ten years on, its DIARRHEA OF A MADMAN wood) but it's hard to do that from the Generic Democrat perspective without looking, erm, "cringe." Jimmy Kimmel liberalism is very much not in vogue right now.
Your piece seethes with resentment against The NY Post's success and the paper's crusades on issues such as congestion pricing. The NY Post's true status as an underdog was revealed when it published the first stories on Hunter Biden's laptop, but was censored by Twitter and roundly ignored by the rest of the media -- until more than a year after Biden's election. The Post was also blasted by the White House and NYT. among other media, for running "fakes" after a front page story and headline on a wandering, confused Biden. The NYT quickly reversed itself after Biden's debate with Trump, but never retracted its criticism of the Post, which proved spot on.
This gets conveniently forgotten. The Post got it right about Biden's decline, and the laptop story was real. That the Organ of the MIC, the NY Times, censored and spun the story, is expected. That the Times' readers went with it is disappointing, to say the least.
What a great angle for learning something about NYC.
Here’s a larger question that came up for me while reading:
With such a predominance of right wing media in general why does the non-aligned and centre left media seem to bear the brunt of accusations of censorship and bias? Is it because they stake a claim to and we hold them to higher standards? (I guess I’m thinking of the NYTs specifically.)
It’s because they’re biased and come out in favor of censoring opposing viewpoints.
A trenchant and accurate analysis.
The Post is fun and has a sense of humor. That is part of why everyone reads it, including my wokest NYC friends.
Bingo. It doesn't take it self any more seriously than it had to.
An aside, but the absurdity of congestion pricing is that it penalizes commercial trucks to the tune of $15-20. Also, not sure if you ride the trains, but I often see 4 to 5 people avoid fare every day on my Manhattan-Bronx commute. I don’t own a car, but it seems like congestion pricing should penalize B&T day trippers and commuters who should be using mass transit, not truck drivers delivering goods and providing services to Manhattan businesses, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, etc. Also, the MTA should solve the fare evasion issue and, more importantly, audit their management and contractors.
Penalizing working people and delivery trucks, making them pay more for everything is seen as "doing something" in today's political world.
Bravo to Ross for such a trenchant survey of NYC’s media landscape. I’ve lived here 40 years and learned a ton.
To the Post’s selling points let’s add their local monopoly on creative headlines, sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating. The classic example remains: “Headless Body Found in Topless Bar.”
The Post has also been an important guilty pleasure, as captured in their delightful “Three Lies” ad campaign in the 80s, to wit:
“The three biggest lies about dating:
1) It’s only a cold sore.
2) My roommate won’t hear us.
3) I never read the Post.”
"Ike Beats Tina to Death"
I like the Post because they gleefully use words like “maniac” and “perv” and “sicko” in their news columns to describe, well, maniacs, pervs, and sickos. It is so devoid of information that it only takes a few minutes to read. Then my day is brighter.
Hold on a minute. Do you mean that "mentally unstable", "minor attracted person", or "developmentally limited socio economic victim" doesn't do it for you?
Good piece. Is the conventional wisdom still that the Post loses tons of money, and Murdoch is willing to eat the losses, but once he's gone, his heirs might not feel the same way?
Also, I was always amused when the Post's cops-are-good-criminals-are-disgusting-vermin ethos got disturbed whenever they wrote about the mob, who the Post always treated as the coolest dudes ever (although that was mostly the late Steve Dunleavy.)
You had me until "despite his policy accomplishments" in referring to deBlasio.
excellent piece and analysis — first rate 👍
Growing up on Long Island it went The Daily News > Newsday > The Post, based solely on the comics page. But only our grandmother subscribed to the Daily News so Long Island only got to read it on Sundays.
My dad was a madman in the 1960/1970 era. We lived in Westport, he commuted on the New Haven railroad and read the NY Post on his way home.