The do’s and don’t of the unruly New York Post

Many distinguished journalists have moved from the tabloid mayhem of the New York Post to the industry’s establishment brands — the New York Times, ABC News, CNBC, you name it. According to the recent oral history of the Post, “Paper of Wreckage: The Rogues, Renegades, Wiseguys, Wankers, and Relentless Reporters Who Redefined American Media,” by former New York Post journalists Susan Mulcahy and Frank DiGiacomo, the transition sometimes features heaps of due diligence. “I was going to be the New York picture editor at the New York Times,” Gretchen Viehmann, who worked at the New York Post from 1993 to 2001, said in the book. “I had to go through this horrible interview process, over weeks and weeks. I think the Times wanted to make sure they weren’t getting some loudmouthed tabloid, snappy person.” She ultimately didn’t join the Times.