Mar 18 2009

Chronicle gone-icle!

In recent weeks, Hearst has announced that it may sell or close the Chronicle due to headline-making losses.

Two weeks ago, Maitland “Sandy” Zane – a longtime writer at the San Francisco Chronicle – died of cancer at 80 years of age. Sandy never won a Pulitzer.

But, like many of the great characters who passed through the old Chronicle before it was purchased by the Hearst Corporation, Sandy had more fun than the entire newsroom of the rival Hearst Examiner combined.

He loved to brag about the time that journalistic ethics forced him to personally confirm for an exposé he was writing that a certain escort service’s girls actually did have paid sex with patrons. The punch line was that the Chronicle had to reimburse his expenses.

I have been reading the Chronicle ever since I was a young boy. Initially, I started looking for the paper to see if Carol Doda – the North Beach high priestess of topless dancing – was on the front page again, or to follow the exploits of Willie Mays.

In those days, the “Chron” was edited by Scott Newhall, who loved to titillate and entertain rather than overwhelm readers with profound analysis.

When I grew into adulthood and became a political consultant, I would buy the next day’s Chronicle right off the presses at the Fifth and Mission headquarters almost every night. It was called the “bulldog edition,” and it was delivered to select locations around the Bay Area where hardcore newspaper addicts waited for their daily fix.

Herb Caen, Art Hoppe, Stan Delaplane and Charles McCabe were among a stable of columnists who were notorious characters as well as talented writers. To a young campaign manager, Political Editor Earl “Squire” Behrens seemed ancient but he was still powerful. His “Political Notes” column was about the only coverage of local politics beyond the mayor’s race.

In later years, Jerry Burns became political editor and then city editor before dying prematurely of cancer. Burns was replaced by Jerry Roberts, who rose all the way to managing editor in the 1990s.

In between, stars such as Thomas Albright wrote about art and Allan Temko provided some of the country’s best architecture and design criticism. Writers like Michael Harris and Jerry Carroll built reputations for their hard-nose reporting and lyrical prose.

But this great run came to an end almost exactly when the Chronicle was bought by the Hearst Corporation and taken over by San Francisco Examiner editors in 2000.

In recent weeks, Hearst has announced that it may sell or close the Chronicle due to headline-making losses incurred since the paper was purchased from the Thieriot/de Young family in 2000.

Intense negotiations are underway with the Newspaper Guild and the Teamsters to radically slash a reported $60 million annual loss. The Guild, which represents journalists and advertising personnel, quickly agreed to allow 150 job cuts. Now the Teamsters are beginning talks. According to Hearst executives, the Chronicle has to break even to avert a death sentence. Hearst has more than $1 billion invested in the Chronicle.

The announcement has ignited a firestorm of speculation in Bay Area political and journalistic circles.

I filed a lawsuit in 2000 to block Hearst’s purchase of the Chronicle. In 2006, I filed a second antitrust suit to stop a possible business combination between MediaNews Group and Hearst, which would have led to one partnership controlling virtually every Bay Area daily newspaper. Given my history with the subject, I have been asked for my reaction to these events.

My crusade is to save daily newspapers, not bury them, and to promote competition among news gatherers in order to ensure that readers receive a diversity of facts and viewpoints. When newspapers die, access to vital information about current affairs, local government and civic institutions also are lost.

But my lofty principles will be left on the shelf.

I do not believe that the Hearst Chronicle will die. Hearst will never shutter the paper and walk away from its billion dollar investment. MediaNews may be staggering under a mountain of debt, but Hearst will never sell the Chronicle.

Dammit.