IN THE OLD DAYS, USED TO BE A MEASURNG GUIDE AS TO WHO RULED AT THE CHRONICLE: It went like this: on a BART train, the leftover paper in the seating area was pretty uniform: the Sporting Green and Herb Caen.
That was a long time ago; in fact the Internet was barely years old and smart phones were considered a luxury. Furthermore, Caen was beginning to fade into the sunset and his impact on Bay Area social life was diminishing --he died 24 years ago next month.
TODAY, the Chronicle is way off the cultural radar and only possesses limited relevance --it is the dominant newspaper because it seems that it is the only newspaper with a marginalized San Jose Mercury nowhere near its power and stature so the Chronicle sort of is it, whether its the old cranky print edition and its digital SF Gate.
With the departure of Phil Matier and, to a lesser degree, Willie Brown, what is there to invest in buying a Chronicle? Any form of another. As I mentioned, in the old days, I made it a point to buy it for Caen and the sports section. That was it. There was no other reason to invest because Caen was #1 and the columnists like Bruce Jenkins, Lowell Cohn and Scott Ostler made for good breakfast reading.
Nowadays, I can't name a writer, news, sports or entertainment, worth paying money to read. Maybe Mick LaSalle on movies but that's it. The Sunday Pink was mandatory reading but even that now is slim and none. There's no there, there, to borrow a line the great Caen used (via Gertrude Stein).
The paper mocked for columnists ( the Columnicle) has no columnists. Oh sure they do just nobody interesting enough to go out and buy the paper, online or print. I get the fact Hearst is losing tons of money (which is why Matier and Brown and others are being told to take a hike) but with no elephants at the circus, why bother to go?
Not that the Chronicle is some great journalistic entity, it never was nor is it now. It's the Chronicle for heavens sake and at best, a great addition to the morning breakfast routine but that's about it.
I wonder what Caen would say today about this big mess. Good lord, that would be interesting.
The loss of the Sunday Big 5 ad signalled the beginning of the end.
ReplyDeletePeople don't shop, and they can't go out. That spells death to ads.
But they got rid of their Friday/Saturday/Sunday subscription. So it may cost more to deliver than they take in.
Big 5 did not help itself by giving up sales of guns, bullets and cartridges. The Woke crowd gave them lavish praise but not enough dollars to compensate. Oh Well!
ReplyDeleteThat's because the "woke" crowd are generally broke and not successful. They have no money. If it isn't food with avocado on top they aren't buying. Maybe when they get their next stimulus check they'll shop at Big 5...but my money is on that check being spent on Uber rides to Santana Row and trips to Starbucks.
Delete@6:41 & 11:13
DeleteWall Street has been very happy with Big 5's returns, something neither of you gun-totin' hillbillies have the capacity to grasp.
If you go on newspapers.com, you can see the SF Chronicle beginning in about 1865. It was really the only to get news at the time. TONS of ads too.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to look at 100+ year old newspapers and see how much life has changed since then. I'm sad to see newspapers struggle. They are such a wonderful source for genealogical and historical reasons, but by today's standards, they are literally "yesterday's news." I wish I had a helpful suggestion for them, but I don't.
This is like what started happening to local news about 20 years ago. The senior reporters with years of credibility were being let go, to be replaced with new reporters only a few years out of college. I'm looking at the bylines of the Chronicle reporters now, and many are new names in the "recently graduated from college" category.
ReplyDeleteThe Brown and Matier columns were the two best columns in the Chronicle. I subscribe to the online edition, and I wonder more and more whether it's worth it.
This is why I only subscribe to the Sunday edition for short periods of time now. I'm afraid the Chron won't be around longer than that and I'd be stuck getting even more nothing for my money.
ReplyDeleteThe Tom Stienstra columns were the best
ReplyDeleteMissing Willie and Matier already. All that is left are Jenkins, Ostler and Dear Abby, now also in the Sporting Green.
ReplyDeleteThe internet has screwed up this paper, along with many others. The only reason why I subscribe to the digital version is to keep up with what's happening here. The downfall of the Chronicle has led me to get my news from other sources like the NY Times and the LA Times. Sports coverage is even better in The Athletic than the local paper. Shame to see Phil Matier leave. Who's going to watch our local electeds? Especially that lame brained Bored of Education (spelled it correctly? Matier was gracious in his exit column, but let's be real. He's leaving because the Chronicle is slipping along with Big Sur and Highway 1. He's not stupid. Take the bloody money and run like Tyreek Hill.
ReplyDeleteUp until about 2015 we could easily sell photo's & even video to most Newspaper Publisher's! Than most companies slashed the "Freelance Budget" Now Stock Photos & Free Shaky Cellphone Videos, Rule the day!
ReplyDeleteLike most newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle is slowly slipping into the media tar pits. It was a biased, far left newspaper before the Internet, and now it’s a biased far left newspaper with little or no content. The business model hasn’t worked for newspapers for years, while the executives at the papers can’t figure out how to produce new revenues, but only how to cut costs by laying off reporters and editors. They’ve been doing it for more than a decade, including over the past few weeks where the brass is cutting jobs, while trying to disguise them as buyouts. Lately Chronicle executives haven’t been throwing some of their top talents out on the street, just opening the front door and giving them a push.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, some of the Chronicle’s best reporters -- Henry Lee, Jaxon Van Derbeken and Evan Sernoffsky -- have fled to the greener and better paying television news pastures. And now Phil Matier is joining them. The Chronicle is in an ongoing downward spiral, losing or laying off talented reporters and editors, while fewer important matters get covered and the paper gets thinner. The same scenario continues to be played out at newspapers across the country.
The Chronicle is fortunate that it’s a Hearst paper, with the parent company willing to prop up its money-losing papers from the money it makes in its television and other divisions. Things are a lot worse at newspapers -- such as the East Bay Times and Mercury News -- that are owned by Digital First Media.
After the demise of the Examiner years ago, the Chronicle really became the only newspaper in San Francisco. But it’s never been a good newspaper and despite those phony-baloney awards management likes to crow about -- it will never be a good newspaper. But it will be a smaller and smaller newspaper, with a smaller and smaller (and less experienced and cheaper) staff.
If Hearst sells, it would be either to the Denver Post - who owns Digital First Media and the San Jose Mercury News/East Bay Times - or the Chicago Tribune, who owns the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune. Not sure if McClatchy - owners of the Sacramento Bee and Pittsburgh Press-Gazette - wants in on a buy.
ReplyDeleteAt least that may give way for a larger spot for Ben Fong-Torres' column!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf Chronicle Broadcasting still owned KRON, they could sell a few of them monitors.
ReplyDelete