The Media Front: Murdochs Head West

For those of us who lived through New York’s tabloid wars, when the Post and Daily News were at each other’s throats, Monday’s launch of the Murdoch-backed California Post feels like a throwback. 

The news business has changed dramatically since 2006. Bravo briefly mined New York’s ink-stained slugfest in “Tabloid Wars.” “Real Housewives,” which also launched that year, proved far more durable in the reality-show pantheon.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the Murdoch special sauce of populist politics...