Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post has been accused by its bitter tabloid rival, the New York Daily News, of littering New York streets with 50,000 unwanted copies each day in a scheme to boost circulation.

Daily News senior correspondent Richard T Pienciak writes:

The New York Post – what they don’t give away, they throw away. To make matters worse, they plan to count all the trash as “paid circulation.”

In a frantic, desperate effort to jimmy up circulation numbers, the Post has been littering New York City with free copies encased in red plastic bags – 50,000 copies each week day.

The Post claims the extra copies are part of a free sampling program aimed at potential new subscribers in Brooklyn and Queens.

And industry publication Editor and Publisher has more on New York’s tabloid rivalry here.