'The French don't get it'

The New York Post's jibes at the French anti-war stance have been vicious. But they capture a national mood, its editor tells Louise Jury

The New York Post last week printed a photograph of American soldiers' war graves in Normandy and provoked a fierce debate on the role of the French in the current crisis over possible war in Iraq.

"They died for France but France has forgotten," the headline roared with all the emotional blackmail a Murdoch-owned tabloid can muster. "Where are the French now, as Americans prepare to put their soldiers on the line to fight today's Hitler, Saddam Hussein?" asked its columnist, Steve Dunleavy.

If the attacks seemed vicious and inflammatory, the New York Post's editor, Col Allan, is unrepentant. "Our intent was really to spark a debate and a consideration of Europe and particularly the French and the German role in this struggle. I think we've been successful in that," he says.

Perspective is all. One way of looking at the Sun-style vitriol is to see it as classic tabloid mischief-making, the irresponsible ramping up of nationalistic rivalry. There is undoubtedly something of this in Allan's bold approach. But that he is operating in New York, the city of September 11, is the key to the other way of considering what he is doing. "I think New York, has got over it very well, but clearly there is a physical and a psychological scar here," he says.

The polls show the majority of Americans support the Bush administration. Allan suspects that may not be true of New Yorkers, but the New York Post has long been a conservative voice in a liberal city. "It's a role we're very comfortable with because we don't see ourselves in isolation but as part of the larger media diet," he says. But he feels that a genuine sense of grievance against the French is emerging. "The world changed on September 11 and Osama bin Laden and the people similar to him demonstrated that they would stop at nothing to destroy the American way of life. This is not understood by the French."

The French get more of his opprobrium than the Germans because there was a greater sense of expectation, he says, a greater sense of ingratitude. "From our perspective, France was a country that was an ally in two world wars. It has a responsibility... and if it wants to walk away from this, it is giving aid and comfort to a tyrant."

In an ironic twist, the argument put forward by some columnists in Europe – that the war is all about oil – is used by Allan as a possible explanation of the French stance. "It can either be explained by the fact of their $60b worth of oil contracts with Iraq or that they still have vague memories of when they had some international influence."

Allan believes the Post's attack caught a growing mood of national irritation and a debate on the French is now flourishing. "New York is important because it is the media capital of the US. NBC is just down the road and CBS is around the corner. And this captured the imagination of a good section of the media."

He also suggests the Post is watched by rivals more than it used to be. While certainly having none of the clout of The New York Times, The Washington Post or The Wall Street Journal, the title has been the fastest growing newspaper in the US in the last couple of years, with a circulation of about 600,000 a day.

The growth coincides with Allan's appointment as editor-in-chief after working on Australia's Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, Sydney's biggest selling newspapers, though there were other factors: "The Post moved from a printing press that Charles Dickens would have been familiar with to a very modern colour printing facility that has played a significant role in the newspaper's growth. And the paper has also been through a period of change. Without being too grand, it has been embracing modernity. The design is somewhat more contemporary than it was. It was always wonderfully written, but we've just made it a little bit easier to read."

When you note that the attack on the French is reminiscent of vintage Sun, he says he has not seen that title, now edited by his good friend Rebekah Wade, for a couple of weeks. He goes on to defend the tabloid approach: "I've always believed that you need to be unambiguous. I feel that there are plenty of places where people can go where the news is presented in a relatively dull fashion. But politics lends itself to position-taking. Newspapers like ours, that are able to attack an issue with some humour and wit and attitude, are, frankly, more likely to bring politics to life in the public eye than these rather more worthy presentations of the same stuff."

Allan, 49, was sometimes described as a dominating and ruthless newspaper man in his native Australia, putting him firmly in the mould of his proprietor, Rupert Murdoch. Allan says Murdoch, and his son Lachlan, who live in New York, were both very helpful in updating his knowledge of the city when they appointed him to the Post two years ago. He had last worked in the Big Apple as a correspondent in the late Seventies, prior to a couple of years in London.

But Allan insists that does not mean it is Murdoch who is dictating the fierce anti-French tone and pro-Bush sentiments of his newspaper, even if the evidence of Murdoch titles worldwide would suggest otherwise. "I'm dealing with my own values and the newspaper's history rather than the day-to- day desires of my proprietor," he maintains.

None the less, you can sense those values are firmly in tune with the boss's – and just as robust. "Publishing a daily newspaper is not having a quiet drink at the Harvard club," he says. "Newspapers need to be boisterous, creative, energetic and driven by ideas and a sense of purpose. You don't get those kind of dynamics if you try to run a nursery."