San Francisco Bay Guardian. Flickr: Thomas Hawk
The Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle has found an unlikely (totally self-righteous) ally in the San Francisco Guardian. In short, Guardian editors feel the the pain of struggling newspapers, but also suggest that the Chronicle and Hearst could do a better job. Instead of throwing up their arms Hearst might try improving the paper instead of “trying to save” the paper by cutting costs (staff). This posture doesn’t solve the biggest weakness of the Chronicle: It’s growing irrelevancy to a progressive, well-educated, and prosperous audience.
We realize the newspaper business is rough right now, but we’re not convinced that running a daily paper in San Francisco is a doomed proposition. This is one of the wealthiest, best-educated markets in the world — and the fact that Hearst can’t sell enough newspapers and ads to float its operation is in significant part a sign of how miserable the paper’s management has failed. It tried to be a regional paper, which flopped. It’s become so politically conservative that progressives, particularly young progressives who make up the future of its demographic base, see little reason to subscribe.
A few weeks ago the Managing Editor of the Chronicle Tim Redmond offered his own words of condemnatory support. He outlined a series of “hints” for Chronicle/ Hearst big wigs, including firing C.W. Nevius. According to Redmond, The Chronicle needs to abandon it’s ambitions of becoming a national paper and invest in local investigative reporting and progressive commentary.
Become a San Francisco paper. Nobody reads the Chron for national news any more. You can get The New York Times delivered or read it on the Web and get far better coverage than anything the Chron offers. So give it up. Go local. And by local I don’t mean Walnut Creek and Orinda; forget the suburban readers and try to convince people in your central circulation area that you have something worth reading every day.
I agree that the Chronicle is a weak paper, but I’m not sure the smug advice of the Guardian is going to change anyone’s mind.