NYT, Nov.
7, 2020
New York Post Shifts Tone on Trump as a Top Editor Plans His Own
Exit
By Katie Robertson
Last month The New York Post called President Trump “an
invincible hero, who not only survived every dirty trick the
Democrats threw at him, but the Chinese virus as well.” Then it
published front-page articles trying to link the contents of a
laptop said to belong to Hunter Biden to his father, Joseph R.
Biden Jr.
On Thursday, in a sudden about-face, Rupert Murdoch’s scrappy
tabloid published two articles with a wildly different tone. One
accused the president of making an “unfounded claim that
political foes were trying to steal the election.” The headline
on the other described Donald Trump Jr. as the “panic-stricken”
author of a “clueless tweet.”
What happened?
In short, the president appears to be going down — and The Post
is not about to go with him.
With Mr. Trump headed toward a likely defeat, top editors at the
tabloid told some staff members this week to be tougher in their
coverage of him, said two Post employees who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
In addition to the shift in tone, there will be a change in
personnel: Col Allan, the Australian tabloid wizard who was once
seen in the Post newsroom wearing a Make America Great Again
cap, will call an end to his career of more than 40 years at
Murdoch papers in New York and Sydney.
Mr. Allan, who was The Post’s editor in chief from 2001-16,
rejoined the paper as an adviser in January 2019, just as the
presidential campaign was underway. Since his return, he has had
a strong hand in shaping coverage, several staff members said.
He confirmed his planned retirement in an email interview.
“The Post is not perfect,” Mr. Allan said. “But it articulates a
view that is not obedient to liberal orthodoxy. Therefore it is
dangerous. I know where I would rather be.”
On Thursday, The Post published two articles in quick succession
on its website. One was a skeptical dispatch from Washington on
the president’s Thursday evening White House briefing: “Downcast
Trump makes baseless election fraud claims in White House
address,” went the headline.
The article did not shy away from critical reporting: “President
Trump repeated his unfounded claim that political foes were
trying to steal the election from him during a briefing on
Thursday evening as he trailed his opponent and remaining swing
states were leaning toward a Joe Biden presidency.” The full
article was not included in The Post’s print edition on Friday,
but the parts that called the president’s claims unsubstantiated
were intact.
It went online shortly after The Post published an article on
its website that took aim at Mr. Trump’s eldest son, who had
called on the president “to go to total war over this election”
in a tweet. “Panic-stricken Donald Trump Jr. calls for ‘total
war’ in clueless tweet,” read the original headline. The story
noted that the younger Mr. Trump “has a long history of using
Twitter to fuel conspiracy theories.” (A later version of the
headline removed “panic-stricken,” and the article did not make
the Friday print edition.)
A spokeswoman for The Post declined to comment for this article.
The tenor of The Post’s recent Trump coverage matched the
irreverent voice the paper typically applies to Hollywood
celebrities and Democratic politicians. The two employees who
spoke on the condition of anonymity described instances in the
last two days when top editors encouraged staff members to use a
rough-and-ready tabloid voice when writing about the president.
Rethinking the causes of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat: Should
the 2020 results prompt a reassessment?
Before Election Day — as Mr. Allan worked closely with the
editor in chief, Stephen Lynch, and the top digital editor,
Michelle Gotthelf — The Post used its pun-crazed front page to
promote the president and knock his rivals. The headlines
included “HIDIN’ BIDEN” (for an article on Mr. Biden’s campaign
strategy) and “SHE’S COUP-COUP” (on Speaker Nancy Pelosi).
Several staff members said Mr. Allan had more or less run the
newsroom since his return. “I have contributed little other than
some minor advice,” Mr. Allan said of his work on the paper’s
election coverage.
Over the last year, Mr. Allan has also worked closely with the
columnist Miranda Devine, a fellow Australian who joined The
Post in time for the 2020 campaign. She has been an ardent
supporter of President Trump and one of Mr. Biden’s fiercest
detractors. She is the one who likened Mr. Trump to “an
invincible hero” as he battled Covid-19 last month. And Ms.
Devine described Mr. Biden’s candidacy as “an indictment of the
entire Democratic establishment that has conspired to trick
America into voting for someone incapable of being president.”
Mr. Allan said he would split his time between Sydney and New
York. Asked if he had mounted his last stand, he replied, “Like
Custer!”
In the campaign’s final stretch, he was a driving force behind
The Post’s reporting on digital data that The Post said it had
obtained from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden. The paper’s
first major article on the find was published on Oct. 14 amid
the doubts of Post staff members. Its lead writer refused to
accept a byline for his work on it.
Two main sources were President Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W.
Giuliani, and his former adviser Stephen K. Bannon. The article
suggested that Joseph Biden had directed American policy in
Ukraine while he was vice president to enrich his son, a former
board member of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company.
Other news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, The
Washington Post and The New York Times, examined the laptop
material and determined that Joseph Biden had not manipulated
American foreign policy to benefit his son.
“The Post has largely supported Trump because the paper shares
his vision for free markets and the opportunity they provide to
raise up all people,” Mr. Allan said. “We have also been
critical of the president, particularly his tweeting. My
personal view is that history will be very kind to Donald
Trump.”
