Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate, News Corp, is planning on rolling out the California Post, a brand-new West Coast tabloid, in time for the California primary in early 2026. This new publication would be a sister outlet to the New York Post. Both are jointly owned by Murdoch’s company. Murdoch’s News Corp now oversees an enormous empire of tabloids and TV stations across the globe. Those would be the most influential outlets – Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Times of London, Aussie, you know.
Here is the good news that the California Post broke this morning! This comes on the heels of News Corp’s impressive four quarter earnings report last week that beat projections on quadrupling digital subscriptions from its Dow Jones papers, including the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s. Murdoch’s billion-dollar empire is changing with the times, as it continues to use and abuse the markets it operates in.
Not only is News Corp expanding its print offerings, it’s reportedly in deep negotiations with multiple artificial intelligence firms. These discussions are part of a broader strategy to protect intellectual property rights in an age where AI technologies can easily replicate content.
Indeed, News Corp has publicly feared unscrupulous AI players would amount to the deliberate “devaluation” of original works. The company stated, “The AI age must cherish the value of intellectual property if we are collectively to realize our potential.” And they made sure to showcase how even the president of the United States is not immune to stupid and shameless robbery. Further, they emphasized that AI engines can gobble up Trump’s writings and cash in on his concepts, threatening any future revenue from those works.
Now, Murdoch and his close relationship with former President Donald Trump seems to have turned. While the two were once chummier than old pals, relations turned decidedly cool over the last year since Trump launched his third presidential run. The Wall Street Journal reported that for 15 years Trump would have the run of their Florida mansion and would eventually flee Epstein. This revealing exposé ignited a fury of legal wrangling, leading Trump to sue the paper.
A federal judge just recently denied OpenAI’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the New York Times Company. This important ruling points to the larger and more contentious issue of intellectual property in the digital age. Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp, remarked on this issue: “It’s clear that many of them have come to recognize that the purchase of [intellectual property] is as important as the acquisition of semiconductors or the securing of stable energy sources.”
News Corp complained about how these emerging AI technologies have used Trump’s works without compensation and without attribution. They wrote, “What’s happened is that suddenly, The Art of the Deal has become The Art of the Steal.”