Talk:San Francisco Chronicle

Labor?
Having been in the 1994 strike, it would be nice to expand upon that, versus the brief mention. GXIndiana (talk) 22:35, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

"Bay Guardian" editorial in disguise
NPOV means we include any published criticism, much like we have for other media outlets. We just don't judge whether the criticism is accurate or not. The Bay Guardian criticism is in a legitimate, published, verifiable source, and as such is readded. Calwatch 20:00, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Including pride of place for one AND ONLY ONE piece of criticism/viewpoint and pretending you're following NPOV isn't the least bit intellectually honest. Try again, and at least PRETEND you understand NPOV. --Calton | Talk 00:56, 18 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Please do not violate WP:CIVIL, and avoid making personal attacks (least bit intellectually honest). I've decided to add a blurb about conservative criticism. I hope this works. Calwatch 00:59, 18 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I have to say that the section doesn't improve the article. For example, no clear evidence is given for the Communist Party assertion, and it's a convoluted argument anyway. I think we should cut both the leftist and rightist criticism down to the basics of their beliefs, since I doubt either of these viewpoints is widely held. - mako 07:08, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Request for article
Could someone create an article for the famous author for the Chronicle named Joan Ryan? Thanks! Jccort (talk) 18:21, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * While I don't know if the term "famous author" would cut it with Wiki, nevertheless, if Paul Avery and Charles McCabe get separate articles, I guess Ryan should too. One of us should get to work on it--while the Chron still exists :(  Lantana11 (talk) 05:30, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Circulation is not accurate
The main article says: "today only the Los Angeles Times exceeds the Chronicle's circulation on the West Coast, while the paper is ranked 12th by circulation nationally." But a quick look at "The Oregonian" newspaper in Portland (on Wikipedia) shows a circulation that is greater than the Chronicle. This needs to be corrected. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mattquist (talk • contribs) 06:24, 8 December 2009 (UTC) Mattquist (talk) 06:31, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Outing policy?
Does the paper have an actual or apparent policy on outing? The title of the piece that outed Judge Vaughn R. Walker was "Judge being gay a nonissue during Prop. 8 trial". Of course if the San Francisco Chronicle staff really thought it was a 'nonissue', it wouldn't have been thusly titled, and wouldn't have been published. This was the height of disingenuity by the Chron itself, which decided to run it after "great debate" involving Matier and Ross and "the paper's editor and publisher". --98.248.113.11 (talk) 23:49, 23 February 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.248.113.11 (talk)

TV Guide
A fairly large paragraph has been recently written because the Chron is changing out it's weekly TV section. In my opinion this change in their TV guide is has no merit whatsoever for inclusion in this article, and if we need it the info could be done in a sentence. But considering the long storied history of the Chron, with all of the changes made to its content and format over the years, this long paragraph about such a trivial change is pointless. --Fizbin (talk) 22:47, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

I am dissatisfied with how "Fizbin" has handled the "TV Guide" matter. The switch of the TV Guide from a free supplement to a paid one is a significant change. I see your point about it being too long in comparison with the rest of the article, but the complete deletion is unacceptable. I suggest that you add a sentence that summarizes the key point(s), as you've suggested, instead of deleting it all. Otherwise people like me will stop contributing to Wikipedia. [I also suggest that you brush up on your grammar ("it's/its") before taking a meat cleaver to others' work.]  Jab73 (talk) 08:36, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Proposed change: SFGATE should be a separate page, not redirect
The SFgate.com page currently redirects to this page, but as of 2019, SFGATE and the Chronicle are two separate entities with separate newsrooms.

Would some editors be willing to create a separate page for SFGATE for clarity?

Here are some sources: https://www.kqed.org/news/92381/san-francisco-chronicle-launches-pay-wall-reporters-launch-twitter-strike

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125914124

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/09/business/the-media-business-a-newspaper-labor-dispute-spawns-an-on-line-rivalry.html

Because of COI, WP:SCOIC I cannot do this. Snailtortoisechicken (talk) 20:53, 27 January 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi You are correct that you should not create or edit the SFgate page. However, you may create a draft for this article by going to Articles for creation. Once the draft is created, you can place your COI declaration the talk page so that a reviewer will know about your COI. I also suggest that you post a COI declaration on your user page. If you have any questions, please post on the help desk (click me!) or post below. Happy editing! Z1720 (talk) 15:23, 28 January 2021 (UTC)


 * I've looked at the three sources linked here, as well as SFgate.com's own About SFGATE page, but I haven't had time to do additional research, and I don't live in S.F., so what follows are honest questions from ignorance. What I got from these sources was that (a) during a strike in the 90s, Chronicle journalists started up their own independent website -- interesting background but not directly related to the question of whether SFgate is part of the Chronicle; (b) SFgate was originally the "official web edition" of the Chronicle (and also the Examiner?); (c) at some point, the Chronicle set up a separate paywalled news site, while SFgate continued to show stories, including some Chronicle stories, for free; (d) SFgate considers itself a "separately run entity" now, and has a newsroom leader with the title "editor in chief". I don't see any source here that directly addresses several aspects (see below) of the ongoing relationship, or lack thereof, between SFgate and the Chronicle. Maybe someone with more firsthand knowledge of this topic can help. As someone with no COI but with some interest in newspapers and their history, I'm willing to help with building an article -- if a separate article, rather than an expansion of this article, is truly warranted. What I'd look for is a better understanding of the precise nature of the relationship between SFgate.com and SFchronicle.com. Even with separate newsgathering teams, it might make sense to continue to include SFgate in the Chronicle article, with the addition of prose explaining the two-site online presence.
 * Are they still owned by the same company? If so, is it the immediate operating company of the Chronicle, or a corporate/holding company that's a step or two above the Chronicle's publisher?
 * Despite having separate newsgathering staffs, is there still any sharing of content between them? That is, might a story written by an SFgate reporter end up published on the Chronicle website or print edition? Might a photograph taken by a Chronicle photog end up on SFgate, in addition to being on the Chronicle-named properties? Does this sharing always happen, or frequently, or rarely?
 * Are their business offices integrated? That includes ad sales staff but might also include the HR department, accounting, IT department, etc.
 * Does SFgate.com publish opinion pieces, and if so, does it have different writers or even a different editorial voice than the online or print Chronicle?
 * Does SFgate cover a different territory than the Chronicle? That is, is one of them more focused on one or a few cities on the Bay, while the other is more regional/statewide in focus?
 * Anyway, I'm glad to help any way I can. If I have some extra time this week I'll dig deeper and see what I can find myself. ``` t b w i l l i e ` $1.25 ` 16:56, 28 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I changed SFgate.com so that it redirects to SFGATE. Mcljlm (talk) 21:33, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

Hi there! Thank you so much for taking the time to help us out. Here are some answers to the questions you listed!

- Are they still owned by the same company? If so, is it the immediate operating company of the Chronicle, or a corporate/holding company that’s a step or two above the Chronicle’s publisher?

Yes, both the Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst, along with many other print and digital publications.

- Despite having separate newsgathering staffs, is there still any sharing of content between them? That is, might a story written by an SFgate reporter end up published on the Chronicle website or print edition? Might a photograph taken by a Chronicle photog end up on SFgate, in addition to being on the Chronicle-named properties? Does this sharing always happen, or frequently, or rarely?

No, there’s no longer any sharing of content between SFGATE or the Chronicle. The two operations now operate in silos, without any sharing of photos or content published since the middle of 2019.

- Are their business offices integrated? That includes ad sales staff but might also include the HR department, accounting, IT department, etc.

We share Hearst resources: for instance we use the same accounts payable team as the San Antonio News-Express, SeattlePI.com and the Chronicle. Our ad sales team includes a local ad sales group in SF that sells for both the Chronicle and SFGATE, as well as national programmatic ad sales that are used across the Hearst network for every newspaper/digital operation, etc.

- Does SFgate.com publish opinion pieces, and if so, does it have different writers or even a different editorial voice than the online or print Chronicle?

Yes, and yes, and yes. We have two opinion columnists at SFGATE: Drew Magary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Magary) and Rod Benson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Benson). You can find their bios here (https://www.sfgate.com/author/drew-magary/) and here (https://www.sfgate.com/author/rod-benson/). They only write for SFGATE, not the Chronicle because, again, our editorial departments operate in silos. Unlike the Chronicle, SFGATE doesn’t have an editorial board that makes election recommendations, etc.

- Does SFgate cover a different territory than the Chronicle? That is, is one of them more focused on one or a few cities on the Bay, while the other is more regional/statewide in focus?

We cover the San Francisco Bay Area, just as the Chronicle does, but we’ve also expanded in various parts of California (and beyond) where the Chronicle has not: in September of 2020 SFGATE hired a contributing editor (who lives in the Reno-Tahoe area) who exclusively covers Lake Tahoe (https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/) for SFGATE, a contributing editor who exclusively covers California Parks (https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/) (with a particular emphasis on Yosemite), and a contributing editor in Southern California who exclusively covers Disneyland (https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/). We also regularly cover Hawaii (https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/). It’s part of a broader affinity expansion to cover things we know our readers care about in California and just beyond, plus in most cases we’re providing in-depth journalism in areas that have become relative media deserts.

Also one other point of differentiation from the Chronicle: The SFGATE Sports department strives to not be beholden to access — with rare exceptions, staffers don’t attend team media availabilities, practices, or games. Anything that teams control, we’ve opted out of in order to maintain a balanced, critical eye of pro and collegiate organizations and institutions.

Again, thanks so much for your help!

Snailtortoisechicken (talk) 00:13, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

Where are the archives for the San Francisco Chronicle, 1923 to 1994?
I see mention that the online archives on their main website only go back as far as 1995. And then the "San Francisco Chronicle Historical" on the San Francisco Public Library website covers from 1865 to 1922. How does one find the newspaper archives from 1923 to 1994? PigeonChickenFish (talk) 06:30, 8 December 2022 (UTC)
 * To answer my own question, for the sake of anyone else looking: The San Francisco Public Library's Historical Digital Newspaper Collections in the section called "California Historical Newspapers (NewsBank)" has the San Francisco Chronicle archives from 1865 to 2017; as well as many others. PigeonChickenFish (talk) 01:49, 9 December 2022 (UTC)