New York Post

The oldest newspaper still publishing in New York City was founded more than two centuries ago — not by a journalist, but by a founding father (The New-York Historical Society). The New York Post traces its line to 1801, when Alexander Hamilton established it as the New York Evening Post, and it has been printed without interruption ever since — a continuity claim the New-York Historical Society makes its headline (The New-York Historical Society). In that span the paper has reversed its politics at least twice: it started conservative, swung liberal through the nineteenth century, then swung back to a sensationalistic conservatism in the Murdoch years (The New-York Historical Society). And it is still producing original reporting that no one else has — most recently its August 31, 2026 coverage of Hunter Biden’s podcast admission that his Burisma board earnings helped fund his crack cocaine addiction (New York Post).

A Federalist paper becomes a tabloid

Hamilton’s paper was an unapologetic Federalist organ, backed by fellow members of his party, with William Coleman as its first editor (Encyclopaedia Britannica). In 1829 the noted poet and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant became editor, and under Bryant and his successor William Leggett the paper earned a reputation for literary reviews as well as political editorials — Leggett, a member of the Equal Rights Party, steered it toward pro-union, anti-central-banking stances (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

The nineteenth century brought the paper into the hands of the Villards: journalist and financier Henry Villard took control in 1881 while also acquiring The Nation, and his son Oswald Garrison Villard — a founding member of the NAACP — inherited it before selling in 1918, when his non-interventionist position on World War I bled the paper of money (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Then came the format whiplash. Cyrus H.K. Curtis bought the paper in 1924 and made it a tabloid; J. David Stern shifted it back to broadsheet in 1934 and gave it its modern name, the New York Post (Encyclopaedia Britannica). In 1939 Dorothy Schiff bought it, and over nearly four decades of her ownership the paper settled into the tabloid format for good, developed its taste for gossip, and took a liberal tilt — attracting journalists like Pete Hamill and columnists including former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

The Murdoch era — twice

In 1976 Schiff sold the paper to Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media magnate, and the Post became part of his News Corporation (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Murdoch sold it in 1988 in response to federal regulations limiting media cross-ownership — then bought it back in 1993, in the wake of the paper’s bankruptcy, after receiving a special waiver from the Federal Communications Commission (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The Murdoch family has run it since the early 1990s (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Under Murdoch the paper took on the more sensationalist tone and conservative political bent familiar from his Australian and British papers (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Murdoch used it to promote politicians and positions: New York Mayor Ed Koch said the Post’s positive coverage of him in the 1977 race “made the difference between winning and losing,” and Murdoch hosted a 2006 fundraiser for Hillary Clinton when she looked like the 2008 Democratic frontrunner (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Its coverage of social issues — particularly race — often drew outrage, most notably its reporting on the Central Park jogger case, which presumed the guilt of the five Black and Hispanic teenagers who were later exonerated (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

The Murdoch Post also built its legend on headlines: perhaps the most famous, screaming across a decapitation-murder story, was “Headless Body in Topless Bar” — mocked on Saturday Night Live and by David Letterman (Encyclopaedia Britannica). In 1984 the paper discovered that a woman accused of running an Upper West Side escort service had ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower, and “the Mayflower Madam” was born (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

The Trump years and the laptop story

No American newspaper is more entwined with Donald Trump than this one. Through the 1980s, ’90s, and 2000s the paper kept the real estate developer, reality TV star, and future president as a fixture of its gossipy Page Six coverage (Encyclopaedia Britannica). But the paper did not back his presidential bids early: it endorsed Trump in the 2016 New York Republican primary yet endorsed neither Trump nor Clinton in the general election (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Trump called it his “favorite newspaper,” and he and Murdoch stayed close through Trump’s first presidency (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

In October 2020 the paper published its most consequential story of the decade: reporting on information found on a laptop purported to belong to Hunter Biden, son of then-candidate Joe Biden, with emails the paper said supported conservative claims about the Bidens and Ukrainian businessmen (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Facebook and Twitter almost immediately throttled links to the story as disinformation; the New York Times, the Washington Post, and NPR reported skeptically, noting that named sources included Trump allies Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The paper endorsed Trump for reelection — then, after his defeat, attacked his campaign to overturn the results with front-page editorials urging him to “give it up” and “stop the insanity” (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

The corporate story kept moving. In September 2023 the 92-year-old Murdoch announced he was stepping down from running his media properties and handing control to his son Lachlan Murdoch (Encyclopaedia Britannica). As of September 2024 the Post was the third-largest newspaper in the United States by circulation, behind the News Corporation-owned Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, with an average daily circulation of 122,000 copies (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Still breaking stories: the podcast interview

The paper’s 2026 reporting shows the old tabloid newsroom instinct intact. On August 31, 2026, the Post reported that Hunter Biden, appearing on the “Dopey” podcast, had acknowledged that his lucrative board appointments — including one at Ukrainian energy company Burisma — helped finance his crack cocaine addiction (New York Post). “I never went broke,” Biden told host Dave Manheim after describing a two-month bender at the Chateau Marmont, explaining that he was still drawing residual income: “I still was on the board of Burisma” (New York Post).

The Post reported that Biden earned up to $1 million per year — $50,000 a month — from 2014 to 2019 to serve on the Burisma board, despite having no relevant energy industry experience (New York Post). The piece also recounted that during Joe Biden’s presidency, Republican lawmakers probed the first son’s Burisma ties as part of an investigation into alleged Biden family influence-peddling, and that his abandoned laptop showed his father had met a Burisma executive at a Washington dinner a year after Hunter joined the board in April 2014 (New York Post).

What this profile does not claim

• That the Post is the oldest newspaper in the United States — several dailies predate it; the documented claim is the oldest New York City paper in continuous publication (The New-York Historical Society).
• That the “Mayflower Madam” label or the 2020 laptop story’s claims were independently verified by this profile; they are reported here as the paper’s own published reporting (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• That the Post’s current circulation matches the September 2024 figure; no later figure was verified (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
• That Rupert Murdoch personally writes or directs coverage; the profile documents his ownership, acquisitions, and the paper’s editorial direction under him (Encyclopaedia Britannica).