Col Allan

Colin "Col" Allan (born 1953) is an Australian journalist. He served as the editor in chief of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph of Sydney, Australia and served as editor in chief of The New York Post from 2001 to 2016.

According to a profile by Lloyd Grove, Allan grew up in Dubbo in the 1950s, preferring reading to the poor television reception in the rural area. After failing out of the Australian National University in Canberra, he took a job there at The Daily Liberal. In 1974 he moved to Sydney as a reporter for The Daily Mirror. In 1978 Allan was transferred to New York City to cover American news. His mentor Neal Travis introduced him to Rupert Murdoch during this time. In 1983, Allan returned to Australia, eventually rising to Editor In Chief of the Telegraph. He met Lachlan Murdoch, who eventually told Allan he was to replace Xana Antunes as Editor In Chief of the New York Post in 2001. Allan took responsibility for running the erroneous 2004 story that Dick Gephardt was chosen John Kerry's running mate, described by Grove as "The biggest gaffe of Allan’s reign."