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	<title>San Francisco Chronicle - Revision history</title>
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		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Created a new article&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;New page&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;{{short description|American daily newspaper}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{Distinguish|San Francisco Chronicle Magazine}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{Infobox newspaper&lt;br /&gt;
| name               = San Francisco Chronicle&lt;br /&gt;
| logo               = San Francisco Chronicle (2019-10-31).svg&lt;br /&gt;
| image              = [[File:Chronicle-Cover-22April1906.jpg|225px]]&lt;br /&gt;
| caption            = The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;{{&amp;#039;s}} front page, April 22, 1906&lt;br /&gt;
| type               = [[Daily newspaper]]&lt;br /&gt;
| format             = [[Broadsheet]]&lt;br /&gt;
| foundation         = {{start date and age|1865|1|16}}&lt;br /&gt;
| ceased publication = &lt;br /&gt;
| owners             = [[Hearst Communications]]&lt;br /&gt;
| publisher          = Bill Nagel&lt;br /&gt;
| circulation        = 246,592 Sunday circulation&lt;br /&gt;
226,860 avg. Mon-Fri circulation&lt;br /&gt;
Source: Alliance for Audited Media, 6 mos. ended September 30, 2022&lt;br /&gt;
| headquarters       = 901 Mission Street&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;[[San Francisco]], [[California]]&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;94103&lt;br /&gt;
| ISSN               = 1932-8672&lt;br /&gt;
| oclc               = 8812614&lt;br /&gt;
| website            = {{URL|http://www.sfchronicle.com|sfchronicle.com}}&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;{{URL|http://www.sfgate.com/|sfgate.com}} (until 2017)&lt;br /&gt;
}}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; is a newspaper serving primarily the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] of [[Northern California]]. It was founded in 1865 as &amp;#039;&amp;#039;The Daily Dramatic Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; by teenage brothers [[Charles de Young]] and [[M. H. de Young|Michael H. de Young]].&amp;lt;ref name=Nolte&amp;gt;{{cite news |last=Nolte |first = Carl |author-link=Carl Nolte|title=134 Years of the Chronicle |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=June 16, 1999 | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/06/16/noltehistory.DTL | access-date=September 21, 2006}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The paper is owned by the [[Hearst Corporation]], which bought it from the de Young family in 2000. It is the only major daily paper covering the city and county of San Francisco.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The paper benefited from the growth of San Francisco and had the largest [[newspaper circulation]] on the [[West Coast of the United States]] by 1880. Like other newspapers, it experienced a rapid fall in circulation in the early 21st century and was ranked 18th nationally by circulation in the first quarter of 2021.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{Cite web |last=Turvill |first=William |date=August 25, 2021 |title=Top 25 US newspapers by circulation: America&amp;#039;s largest titles have lost 20% of print sales since Covid-19 hit |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/biggest-us-newspapers-by-circulation/ |website=Press Gazette}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 1994, the newspaper launched the [[SFGATE]] website, with a soft launch in March and official launch November 3, 1994, including both content from the newspaper and other sources. &amp;quot;The Gate&amp;quot;, as it was known at launch, was the first large market newspaper website in the world, co-founded by Allen Weiner and John Coate. It went on to staff up with its own columnists and reporters, and even won a Pulitzer Prize for Mark Fiore&amp;#039;s political cartoons.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SFGate-s-Mark-Fiore-wins-Pulitzer-for-cartoons-3192757.phpcartoons Pulitzer Prize for Mark Fiore&amp;#039;s political cartoons]&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2013, the newspaper launched its own [[namesake]] website, SFChronicle.com, and began the separation of [[SFGATE]] and the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; brands, which today are two separately run entities.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==History==&lt;br /&gt;
{{multiple image&lt;br /&gt;
| align = right&lt;br /&gt;
| direction = horizontal&lt;br /&gt;
| width = &lt;br /&gt;
| image1 = Chronicle Building, San Francisco, 1901.jpg&lt;br /&gt;
| width1 = 146&lt;br /&gt;
| caption1 = The [[Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences|Old Chronicle Building]], at 690 Market Street&lt;br /&gt;
| image2 = San Francisco Chronicle Building.jpg&lt;br /&gt;
| width2 = 337&lt;br /&gt;
| caption2 = The current Chronicle Building, at 901 Mission Street, was commissioned in 1924 and is pictured here in 2017.&amp;lt;ref name=spur&amp;gt;Hillyard, Gretchen (June 20, 2011) [http://www.spur.org/news/2011-06-20/chronicle-buildings-latest-transformation &amp;quot;The Chronicle Building&amp;#039;s Latest Transformation&amp;quot;] &amp;#039;&amp;#039;SPUR&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
| total_width = 352&lt;br /&gt;
| alt1 = &lt;br /&gt;
}}&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; was founded by brothers [[Charles de Young|Charles]] and [[M. H. de Young]] in 1865 as &amp;#039;&amp;#039;The Daily Dramatic Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;,&amp;lt;ref name=Nolte/&amp;gt; funded by a borrowed $20 gold piece. Their brother Gustavus was named with Charles on the masthead.&amp;lt;ref name=first&amp;gt;{{cite news |first=Charles |last=O&amp;#039;Rourke |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Chronicle-Covers-Our-inaugural-issue-6713535.php |title=Chronicle Covers: Our first issue was a &amp;#039;dramatic&amp;#039; debut |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=January 16, 2016 }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book |first=Gray |last=Brechin |author-link=Gray Brechin |title=Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin |year=2001 |orig-year=1999 |publisher=University of California |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-520-22902-9 |pages=172, 183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGJq8nWqY-oC&amp;amp;q=Gustavus }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Within 10 years, it had the largest circulation of any newspaper west of the [[Mississippi River]]. The paper&amp;#039;s first office was in a building at the corner of Bush and [[Kearny Street|Kearney Streets]]. The brothers then commissioned a building from [[Burnham and Root]] at 690 [[Market Street (San Francisco)|Market Street]] at the corner of Third and Kearney Streets to be their new headquarters, in what became known as [[Newspaper Row (San Francisco)|Newspaper Row]]. The new building, San Francisco&amp;#039;s first skyscraper, was completed in 1889. It was damaged in the 1906 earthquake, but it was rebuilt under the direction of William Polk, Burnham&amp;#039;s associate in San Francisco. That building, known as the &amp;quot;Old &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; Building&amp;quot; or the &amp;quot;DeYoung Building&amp;quot;, still stands and was restored in 2007. It is a historic landmark and is the location of the [[Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences]].&amp;lt;ref name=spur /&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 1924, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; commissioned a new headquarters at 901 [[Mission Street]] on the corner of 5th Street in what is now the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of San Francisco. It was designed by Charles Peter Weeks and William Peyton Day in the [[Gothic Revival architecture]] style, but most of the Gothic Revival detailing was removed in 1968 when the building was re-clad with stucco. This building remains the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;{{&amp;#039;}}s headquarters in 2017, although other concerns are located there as well.&amp;lt;ref name=spur /&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Between [[World War II]] and 1971, new editor [[Scott Newhall]] took a bold and somewhat provocative approach to news presentation. Newhall&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; included investigative reporting by such journalists as [[Pierre Salinger]], who later played a prominent role in national politics, and [[Paul Avery]], the staffer who pursued the trail of the self-named &amp;quot;[[Zodiac Killer]]&amp;quot;, who sent a [[cryptogram]] in three sections in letters to the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and two other papers during his murder spree in the late 1960s.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;[http://www.zodiackiller.com/ChronicleCipher.html &amp;quot;Mailed: July 31, 1969, Postmarked: San Francisco, Calif. Sent to: &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; Cipher Status: Solved]. zodiackiller.com. Retrieved November 18, 2012.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; It also featured such colorful columnists as [[Pauline Phillips]], who wrote under the name &amp;quot;[[Dear Abby]]&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Count Marco&amp;quot; (Marc Spinelli), [[Stanton Delaplane]], Terence O&amp;#039;Flaherty, [[Lucius Beebe]], [[Art Hoppe]], [[Charles McCabe]], and [[Herb Caen]].&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The newspaper grew in circulation to become the city&amp;#039;s largest, overtaking the rival &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[San Francisco Examiner]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;. The demise of other San Francisco dailies through the late 1950s and early 1960s left the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; to battle for circulation and readership superiority.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
===Joint operating agreement===&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The competition between the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039; took a financial toll on both papers until the summer of 1965, when a merger of sorts created a [[Joint Operating Agreement]] under which the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; became the city&amp;#039;s sole morning daily while the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039; changed to afternoon publication (which ultimately led to a declining readership).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The newspapers were officially owned by the San Francisco Newspaper Agency, which managed sales and distribution for both newspapers and was charged with ensuring that one newspaper&amp;#039;s circulation did not grow at the expense of the other. [[Revenue]] was split equally, which led to a situation widely understood to benefit the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, since the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, which had a circulation four times larger than its rival, subsidized the afternoon newspaper.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;AJRBattle1&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Gorney, Cynthia Gorney (January/February 1999). [http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3293 &amp;quot;The State of The American Newspaper – The Battle Of the Bay&amp;quot;] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029202632/http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3293 |date=October 29, 2013 }}. ajr.org. &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[American Journalism Review]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;. Retrieved November 17, 2012.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The two newspapers produced a joint Sunday edition, with the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039; publishing the news sections and the Sunday magazine, and the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; responsible for the [[tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid-sized]] entertainment section and the book review. From 1965 on the two papers shared a single classified-advertising operation. This arrangement stayed in place until the Hearst Corporation took full control of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; in 2000.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
===Push into the suburbs===&lt;br /&gt;
[[File:Jack Breibart and Bill German.jpg|thumb|250px|Bill German (left), the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;{{&amp;#039;}}s editor emeritus, and Page One editor Jack Breibart in the newsroom, March 1994]]&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Beginning in the early 1990s, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; began to face competition beyond the borders of San Francisco. The newspaper had long enjoyed a wide reach as the de facto &amp;quot;[[newspaper of record]]&amp;quot; in Northern California, with distribution along the [[Central Coast (California)|Central Coast]], the [[Central Valley (California)| Central Valley]], and even as far as [[Honolulu]], Hawaii. There was little competition in the Bay Area suburbs and other areas that the newspaper served, but as Knight-Ridder consolidated the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[The Mercury News|Mercury News]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039; in 1975; purchased the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Contra Costa Times&amp;#039;&amp;#039; (now &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[East Bay Times]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;) in 1995; and as the Denver-based [[Media News Group]] made a rapid purchase of the remaining newspapers on the East Bay by 1985, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; realized it had to step up its suburban coverage.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; launched five zoned sections to appear in the Friday edition of the paper. The sections covered San Francisco and four different suburban areas. They each featured a unique columnist, enterprise pieces, and local news specific to the community. The newspaper added 40 full-time staff positions to work in the suburban bureaus. Despite the push to focus on suburban coverage, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; was hamstrung by the Sunday edition, which, being produced by the San Francisco-centric &amp;quot;un-&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;quot; &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, had none of the focus on the suburban communities that the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; was striving to cultivate.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;AJRBattle2&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news|url=http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3295|date=January–February 1999|title=Continuation of The Battle Of the Bay|first=Cynthia |last=Gorney|work=American Journalism Review|access-date=November 17, 2012 }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
===Sale to Hearst===&lt;br /&gt;
The de Young family controlled the paper, via the [[Chronicle Publishing Company]], until July 27, 2000, when it was sold to [[Hearst Corporation|Hearst Communications, Inc.]], which owned the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039;. Following the sale, the Hearst Corporation transferred the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039; to the Fang family, publisher of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[San Francisco Independent]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[AsianWeek]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, along with a $66-million subsidy.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;subsidy&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/22/BU70510.DTL|access-date=July 29, 2007|work=San Francisco Chronicle |title=Examiner fires most of staff|last=Buchanan|first=Wyatt|date=February 22, 2003}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Under the new owners, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Examiner&amp;#039;&amp;#039; became a free [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]], leaving the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; as the only daily [[broadsheet]] newspaper in San Francisco.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 1949, the de Young family founded [[KRON-TV]] (Channel 4), the Bay Area&amp;#039;s third television station. Until the mid-1960s, the station (along with KRON-FM), operated from the basement of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; Building, on Mission Street. KRON moved to studios at 1001 Van Ness Avenue (on the former site of St. Mary&amp;#039;s Cathedral, which burned down in 1962). KRON was sold to [[Young Broadcasting]] in 2000 and, after years of being San Francisco&amp;#039;s [[NBC]] affiliate, became an independent station on January 1, 2002, when NBC—tired of Chronicle&amp;#039;s repeated refusal to sell KRON to the network and, later, Young&amp;#039;s asking price for the station being too high&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;:1&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite web|last=Goodman|first=Tim|date=December 18, 2001|title=NBC buys KNTV, cuts ties to KRON / Deal affirms Jan. 1 switch|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/NBC-buys-KNTV-cuts-ties-to-KRON-Deal-affirms-2838310.php|url-status=live|access-date=October 31, 2014|work=San Francisco Chronicle}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;—purchased [[KNTV]] in San Jose from [[Granite Broadcasting Corporation]] for $230&amp;amp;nbsp;million.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;:1&amp;quot; /&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
[[File:JOHNSIAS1999.jpg|thumb|250px|left|&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; CEO John Sias announces the sale of the newspaper to the [[Hearst Corporation]], August 6, 1999.]]&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Since the Hearst Corporation took ownership in 2000 the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; has made periodic changes to its organization and design, but on February 1, 2009, as the newspaper began its 145th year of publication, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; Sunday edition introduced a redesigned paper featuring a modified logo, new section, and page organization, new features, bolder, colored section-front banners and new headline and text typography. The frequent bold-faced, all-capital-letter headlines typical of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;{{&amp;#039;}}s front page were eliminated. Editor Ward Bushee&amp;#039;s note heralded the issue as the start of a &amp;quot;new era&amp;quot; for the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
On July 6, 2009, the paper unveiled some alterations to the new design that included yet newer section fronts and wider use of color photographs and graphics. In a special section publisher, Frank J. Vega described new, state-of-the-art printing operations enabling the production of what he termed &amp;quot;A Bolder, Brighter &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;.&amp;quot; The newer look was accompanied by a reduction in size of the broadsheet. Such moves are similar to those made by other prominent American newspapers such as the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[Chicago Tribune]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[Orlando Sentinel]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, which in 2008 unveiled radically new designs even as changing reader demographics and general economic conditions necessitated physical reductions of the newspapers.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
On November 9, 2009, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; became the first newspaper in the nation to print on high-quality glossy paper.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;&amp;quot;Chronicle goes glossy beginning Monday,&amp;quot; &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, November 4, 2009, p. A1.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The high-gloss paper is used for some section fronts and inside pages.{{clear left}}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==Staff==&lt;br /&gt;
[[File:MATIER&amp;amp;ROSS.jpg|thumb|250px|&amp;quot;Chronicle Insider&amp;quot; columnists Phil Matier and Andrew Ross in the newsroom]]&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The current publisher of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; is Bill Nagel. [[Audrey Cooper]] was named editor-in-chief in January 2015 and was the first woman to hold the position. In June 2020 she left to be the editor-in-chief of WNYC, New York City. In August 2020, Hearst named Emilio Garcia-Ruiz the publication&amp;#039;s editor in chief. [[Ann Killion]] has written for &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[Sports Illustrated]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;. [[Carl Nolte]] is a journalist and columnist. [[Tom Stienstra]] is a columnist.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==Web==&lt;br /&gt;
The newspaper&amp;#039;s websites are at SFGate.com (free) and SFChronicle.com (premium). Originally &amp;#039;&amp;#039;The Gate&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, [[SFGATE]] was one of the earliest major market newspaper websites to be launched, on November 3, 1994, at the time of [[The Newspaper Guild]] [[San Francisco newspaper strike of 1994|strike]]; the union published its own news website, &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Free Press&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, whose staff joined SFGATE when the strike ended.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{Cite news| last= Kershner| first= Vlae| title= SFGate turns 15: A timeline| website= SFGate| date= November 3, 2009| url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/stew/detail?blogid=93&amp;amp;entry_id=50331| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091215123215/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/stew/detail?blogid=93&amp;amp;entry_id=50331 |archive-date=December 15, 2009 }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; SFChronicle.com launched in 2013&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |first=Mallary Jean |last=Tenore |url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2013/san-francisco-chronicle-launches-paywalled-site-with-premium-content/ |title=San Francisco Chronicle launches paywalled site with &amp;#039;premium&amp;#039; content |publisher=Poynter |date=March 25, 2013 |access-date=August 1, 2021 }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; and since 2019 has been run separately from SFGATE, whose staff are independent of the print newspaper.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/home/article/About-SFGATE-15613713.php |title=About SFGATE |website=SFGate |date=January 27, 2021 |orig-year=October 1, 2020 |access-date=August 1, 2021 }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; {{As of|2020}} across all platforms the Chronicle has 34&amp;amp;nbsp;million unique visitors each month, with SFGATE receiving 135.9&amp;amp;nbsp;million pageviews and 25.1&amp;amp;nbsp;million unique visitors per month and SFChronicle.com 31.3&amp;amp;nbsp;million pageviews and 31.3&amp;amp;nbsp;million unique visitors per month globally.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite web|publisher=Hearst Bay Area |title=Media Kit 2020|url=https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/655969/Media_Kit_and_File_Assets/MEDIA_KIT_GENERAL.pdf|date=2020 |access-date=July 31, 2021}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==Praise, criticism, and features==&lt;br /&gt;
The paper has received the [[Pulitzer Prize]] on a number of occasions. Despite an illustrious and long history, the paper&amp;#039;s news reportage is not as extensive as in the past. The current day &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; has followed the trend of other American newspapers, devoting increasing attention to local and regional news and cultural and entertainment criticism to the detriment of the paper&amp;#039;s traditionally strong national and international reporting, though the paper does maintain a Washington, D.C., bureau. This increased focus on local news is a response to the competition from other Bay Area newspapers including the resurrected &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[San Francisco Examiner]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[Oakland Tribune]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;East Bay Times&amp;#039;&amp;#039; (formerly &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Contra Costa Times&amp;#039;&amp;#039;) and the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[San Jose Mercury News|Mercury News]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
[[Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada]] received the [[George Polk Awards|2004 George Polk Award]] for Sports Reporting.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;polk&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite web |url=http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/press/2005.html |title=George Polk Awards for Journalism press release |year=2005 |publisher=Long Island University |access-date=November 22, 2006 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210647/http://www2.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/press/2005.html |url-status=dead }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Fainaru-Wada and Williams were recognized for their work on uncovering the [[BALCO]] scandal, which linked [[San Francisco Giants]] star [[Barry Bonds]] to performance-enhancing drugs. While the two above-named reporters broke the news, they are by no means the only sports writers of note at the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;. The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;{{&amp;#039;}}s sports section, edited by Al Saracevic and called &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Sporting Green&amp;#039;&amp;#039; as it is printed on green-tinted pages, is staffed by a dozen writers. The section&amp;#039;s best-known writers are its columnists: Bruce Jenkins, Ann Killion, Scott Ostler, Saracevic and Tom Stienstra. Its baseball coverage is anchored by Henry Schulman, John Shea, and [[Susan Slusser]], the first female president of the [[Baseball Writers&amp;#039; Association of America]] (BBWAA).&lt;br /&gt;
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The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;s&amp;#039;&amp;#039; Sunday arts and entertainment insert section is called &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Datebook&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, and has for decades been printed on pink-tinted paper in a tabloid format. Movie reviews (for many years written by nationally known critic [[Mick LaSalle]]) feature a unique rating system: instead of stars or a &amp;quot;thumbs up&amp;quot; system, the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; has for decades used a small cartoon icon, sitting in a movie theater seat, known as the &amp;quot;Little Man&amp;quot;, explained in 2008 by the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[Chicago Sun-Times]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039; film critic [[Roger Ebert]]: &amp;quot;...the only rating system that makes any sense is the Little Man of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, who is seen (1) jumping out of his seat and applauding wildly; (2) sitting up happily and applauding; (3) sitting attentively; (4) asleep in his seat; or (5) gone from his seat.&amp;quot;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{Cite web|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=September 14, 2008|title=You give out too many stars|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/you-give-out-too-many-stars|access-date=July 12, 2020|website=rogerebert.com (originally published at suntimes.com)|language=en}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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Another area of note is the architecture column by John King; the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; is still one of the few American papers to present a regular column on architectural issues. The paper also has regular weekly sections devoted to Food &amp;amp; Home and Style.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}&lt;br /&gt;
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==Challenges==&lt;br /&gt;
Circulation has fallen sharply since the [[dot-com bubble|dot-com boom]] peaked from around 1997 to 2001. The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;{{&amp;#039;}}s daily readership dropped by 16.6% between 2004 and 2005 to 400,906;&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;circulation&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news |last=Abate |first=Tom |title=Circulation of U.S. weekday newspapers takes 2.6% hit Chronicle leads pack with 16.6% decline during 6-month period |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 8, 2005 | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/11/08/BUGSOFKG991.DTL&amp;amp;type=business |access-date=January 5, 2007}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; fired one quarter of its newsroom staff in a cost-cutting move in May 2007.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news |last=Garofoli |first=Joe |title=Chronicle to cut 25% of jobs in newsroom |date=May 19, 2007 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/19/BUGK0PTP8V1.DTL|access-date=March 18, 2009 | work=The San Francisco Chronicle}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Newspaper executives pointed to growth of SFGate, the online website with 5.2&amp;amp;nbsp;million unique visitors per month – fifth among U.S. newspaper websites in 2007.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In February 2009, Hearst chief executive Frank A. Bennack Jr., and Hearst President Steven R. Swartz, announced that the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; had lost money every year since 2001 and more than $50&amp;amp;nbsp;million in 2008. Without major concessions from employees and other cuts, Hearst would put the papers up for sale and, if no buyer was found, shut the paper. San Francisco would have become the first major American city without a daily newspaper.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite news|author-link=Richard Pérez-Peña|last=Pérez-Peña|first=Richard|date=February 24, 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/business/media/25paper.html|title=Hearst Threatens to End San Francisco Paper|work=[[The New York Times]]}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The cuts were made.&lt;br /&gt;
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In spite of – or perhaps because of – the threats, the loss of readers and advertisers accelerated. On October 26, 2009, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported that the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; had suffered a 25.8% drop in circulation for the six-month period ending September 2009, to 251,782 subscribers, the largest percentage drop in circulation of any major newspaper in the United States.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;circulation_oct_09&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite magazine |last=Saba |first=Jennifer |title=Newspapers Across the Country Show Steep Declines in Circulation, in New FAS-FAX |magazine=Editor &amp;amp; Publisher |date=October 26, 2009 |url=http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004030291 |access-date=October 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027140640/http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004030291 |archive-date=October 27, 2009 |url-status=dead }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; publisher Frank Vega said the drop was expected as the paper moved to earn more from higher subscription fees from fewer readers.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;circulation_oct_09_02&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news |last=Baker |first=David |title=Chronicle&amp;#039;s strategy shift starts to pay off |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=October 26, 2009 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/26/BUDV1AAV94.DTL |access-date=October 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030122658/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2009%2F10%2F26%2FBUDV1AAV94.DTL# |archive-date=October 30, 2009 |url-status=dead }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; In May 2013, Vega retired and was replaced as publisher by former &amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[Los Angeles Times]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039; publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson.&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;:0&amp;quot; /&amp;gt; SFGate, the main digital portal for the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;, registered 19 million unique visitors in January 2015, making it the seventh-ranked newspaper website in the United States.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite web|url=http://www.journalism.org/2015/04/29/newspapers-fact-sheet|title=Newspapers: Fact Sheet|date=April 29, 2015|work=Pew Research Center&amp;#039;s Journalism Project}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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==Publishers==&lt;br /&gt;
* [[M. H. de Young]], 1865–1925&amp;lt;ref name=soninlaw&amp;gt;{{cite news |title=George T. Cameron, Late Publisher&amp;#039;s Son-in-Law Becomes New Chief of &amp;#039;&amp;#039;Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/394393381.html?dids=394393381:394393381&amp;amp;FMT=ABS&amp;amp;FMTS=ABS:AI&amp;amp;date=Feb+19%2C+1925&amp;amp;author=&amp;amp;pub=Los+Angeles+Times&amp;amp;desc=TAKES+DE+YOUNG%27S+PLACE&amp;amp;pqatl=google |quote=George T. Cameron, son-in-law of the late Mr. H. de Young, will announce in tomorrow morning&amp;#039;s issue of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039; that he will assume charge of that newspaper with the title of publisher and president of the Chronicle Publishing Company. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 19, 1925 |access-date=January 22, 2009 |archive-date=January 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111183638/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/394393381.html?dids=394393381:394393381&amp;amp;FMT=ABS&amp;amp;FMTS=ABS:AI&amp;amp;date=Feb+19%2C+1925&amp;amp;author=&amp;amp;pub=Los+Angeles+Times&amp;amp;desc=TAKES+DE+YOUNG%27S+PLACE&amp;amp;pqatl=google |url-status=dead }}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
* George T. Cameron, 1925–1955&amp;lt;ref name=soninlaw/&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
* Charles de Young Thieriot, 1955–1977&lt;br /&gt;
* Richard Tobin Thieriot, 1977–1993&lt;br /&gt;
* John Sias, 1993–1999 (first publisher not to be a member of the de Young/Cameron/Thieriot family)&lt;br /&gt;
* John Oppedahl, 2000–2003&lt;br /&gt;
* Steven Falk, 2003–2004&lt;br /&gt;
* Frank Vega, 2004–2013&lt;br /&gt;
* Jeffrey M. Johnson, 2013–2018&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;:0&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news|last=Baker|first=David R.|date=May 24, 2013|title=SF Chronicle names new management team|work=San Francisco Chronicle|url=https://www.sfgate.com/default/article/SF-Chronicle-names-new-management-team-4544528.php|url-status=live}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
* Bill Nagel, 2018–present&amp;lt;ref name=&amp;quot;:2&amp;quot;&amp;gt;{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Owen|date=June 14, 2018|title=Hearst names Bill Nagel as SF Chronicle publisher|work=San Francisco Chronicle| url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Hearst-names-Bill-Nagel-as-Chronicle-publisher-12994316.php|url-status=live}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==See also==&lt;br /&gt;
{{Portal|San Francisco Bay Area|Journalism}}&lt;br /&gt;
*&amp;#039;&amp;#039;[[San Francisco Chronicle Magazine]]&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&lt;br /&gt;
* [[Chronicle Publishing Company]]&lt;br /&gt;
* [[Chronicle Books]]&lt;br /&gt;
* [[Chronicle Features]]&lt;br /&gt;
* [[KRON-TV]]&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==References==&lt;br /&gt;
{{Reflist}}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
==External links==&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
{{Wikimedia|San Francisco Chronicle|auto=1|collapsible=true}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{Scholia|organization}}&lt;br /&gt;
*{{official website|https://www.sfchronicle.com}}&lt;br /&gt;
* [http://sfgate.com/ SFGate: Online version of the newspaper], contains freely searchable archive of all articles since 1995&lt;br /&gt;
* [http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/sfplonline/dbcategories.htm San Francisco public library databases] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090909234705/http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/sfplonline/dbcategories.htm |date=September 9, 2009 }}, contains instructions on searching archived papers 1865–1922&lt;br /&gt;
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061030071513/http://www.hearst.com/newspapers/property/news_daily_sanfran.html Hearst subsidiary profile of the &amp;#039;&amp;#039;San Francisco Chronicle&amp;#039;&amp;#039;]&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
{{Hearst}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{Authority control}}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:San Francisco Chronicle| ]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:1865 establishments in California]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:De Young family]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:George Polk Award recipients]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Hearst Communications publications]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Daily newspapers published in the San Francisco Bay Area]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Newspapers established in 1865]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:South of Market, San Francisco]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Weeks and Day buildings]]&lt;br /&gt;
[[Category:Newspapers published in San Francisco]]&lt;/div&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Ajay Kumar</name></author>
	</entry>
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