With the series finale of the Trump Presidency, arguably the scariest sitcom outside of the scariest movies on Netflix, many people across the country are starting to feel a sense of normalcy settle back in. Of course, this wasn’t without resistance: many conservative media outlets tried, at the onset, to paint Biden as some kind of senile pedophile who was also a lackey to China (and possibly a lizard man in disguise).
Thankfully, after year years of mean tweets and ridiculous speeches, the American people were finally over fake news and misleading media. In 2021, there was a major shift in how Americans consumed media: they now wanted centered, unbiased reporting, and they held to account many of the news outlets that pandered to Trump during his 4-year long tantrum.
One of the first on the chopping block was the New York Post, which ran a series of right-leaning (code word for: Donald Trump mouthpiece) articles during 45’s 4-year Presidency, despite their claim that the news organization occupied a centrist position in the political spectrum, leading many to question: is the New York Post a reliable source of information?
The New York Post, A Brief History
The New York Post is one of America’s oldest newspapers, having been founded by Alexander Hamilton (we know he rewrote the game) back in 1801. Back then, the New York Post was a tabloid that covered shipping news and the occasional political crusade, having famously claimed that they would rather lose revenue than not discuss politics.
Over the course of the 19th century, the New York Post was owned by various giants of American history, from famed poet William Cullen Bryant, Shipping magnates Henry and Oswald Villard, Thomas Lamond, and Cyrus Curtis. During Curtis’ ownership, the New York Post operated under a conservative editorial policy that ran from 1920 to 1936. This changed when David Stern took over in ’36, where he changed the editorial policy to a more liberal one.
The following owner, Dorothy Schiff, continued this policy throughout the ‘30s and up to 1976, during which time her editorial staff supported many liberal policies and trends such as the Civil Rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War.
Current owner Rupert Murdoch took over in 1976, and since then, the New York Post transitioned from news tabloid to sensationalist media, with the paper being accused of using over-the-top headlines and factually incomplete stories. Basically, the New York Post followed Avatar’s Prince Zuko’s character arc, but like, in reverse.
Who Owns The New York Post?
Currently, the New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, a conservative/sensational media outlet that runs various news organizations around the world, including:
- The Sun and The Times in the United Kingdom
- The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, SkyNews Australia, and The Australian in Australia
- The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Fox News, and Harper Collins in the United States
Funding for the paper is done through traditional newsstand sales, monthly subscriptions, and advertising space on the tabloid.
Is the New York Post Biased?
In peer-review studies of the New York Post’s bias, researchers have found that the tabloid utilizes various sensationalist headlines and emotionally charged words in their reporting. This is in contrast to one of the least biased Associated Press, which adheres to strict reporting of facts and figures rather than using colorful language in their news stories. It’s as credible as RateMyProfessor, in that it puts emotional opinion first before the facts. Sure, the facts are there, but you kind of have to dig deep.
Despite their claims, the New York Post’s stories lean more towards the right/conservative side of the political spectrum. However, the New York Post does publish negative coverage of right/conservative politics and/or politicians, but only if the story is sensational enough. While the New York Post is known for sourcing their information properly, peer reviews have found their headlines to be exaggerations of the actual story, which can lead readers to a particular bias (mostly one that favors right/conservative views).
The New York Post has consistently endorsed Republican Presidential Candidates since 1980, although they offered no endorsement to any Presidential candidate in 2016. They, however, endorsed Trump’s re-election in 2020. After Trump’s failed insurrection and false accusations of voter fraud, the New York Post then called for Trump to accept President Biden’s victory in late 2020.
According to a survey conducted by Pace University in 2004, the New York Post was rated the least credible news outlet in the city of New York, with respondents decrying Murdoch’s frequent use of sensationalism, conservative bias, and blatant advocacy.
So is The New York Post biased towards the right? Yes, but it doesn’t stray far from the center, and it doesn’t shy away from negative coverage. While the emotionally charged language and sensationalist headlines do give The New York Post a bad image, it does provide factual sources for its information.
