San Francisco Chronicle

The Chron Finally Launches Its (Leaky) Paywall

The paywall that San Francisco Chronicle flirted with for years appeared over the weekend, accompanied by a euphemistic letter from Chron president Mark Adkins. He characterized it as a safe harbor for the paper's "premium content" (ie, news and columns) "uncluttered" by the slideshows, celebrity go ... More >>

The Sky Keeps Falling!: A Short History of the Death of Cinema

Pier 29 Fire Causes More Than $2 Million in Damages

Firefighters still don't know what caused the four-alarm fire that ripped through the roof of Pier 29 yesterday afternoon, stopping traffic along the Embarcadero, and hypnotizing tourists near the Wharf. What they do know is that it caused more than $2 million in damages, Fire Spokeswoman Mindy Tal ... More >>

Law & Disorder: "The Examiner" Punches Crooks in the Junk

Off the Grid Moves Under SF Chronicle on Fridays

Google MapsFood trucks park Wednesday and now Friday right under the Chronicle's collective noses​Off the Grid has been so successful at putting street food once a week on Fifth and Minna Streets, in the alley that bisects the San Francisco Chronicle, that its appearances are doubling. Starti ... More >>

Q&A with Katie Sullivan Morford of Mom's Kitchen Handbook

Joe MorfordKid nutrition blogger Katie Sullivan Morford.​Registered dietitian Katie Sullivan Morford is a food and nutrition writer with more than 20 years of professional writing experience. She's been published in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Cooking Light, Bon Appétit, Sel ... More >>

Advanta Investors, Promised 11 Percent Profit, Will Lose Up To 36 Percent

There's one born every minute...​An investment offer advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle by the bank Advanta promised 11 percent annual interest at a time when savings accounts typically offered less than 2 percent. As we noted in an article and blog post shortly thereafter, the offer was to ... More >>

Benjamin Powell, Jonathan Johnson Killed in Ingleside Crash

​The San Francisco Medical Examiner's office has identified the two men killed in an Ingleside car crash this morning as Hayward resident Benjamin Powell and Castro Valley resident Jonathan Johnson. Both were 18 years old.The car carrying Powell and Johnson apparently crashed into a utility pole o ... More >>

Congestion Pricing Likely To Be Killed By Prop. 26

Thanks to Prop. 26, expect this to continue. Also, expect San Francisco to stay broke. ​Today's front-page story in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights a number of hefty "congestion pricing" fees drivers may soon have to shell out for the privilege of driving into the city, or even between cert ... More >>

Suckers! The media want us to think there's a bedbug invasion.

Chronicle Scribes' Secret Weapon in Union Negotiations: Essays

Will longtime reporters' essays make a dent with management? ​Over the past several years, multiple writers for the ever-shrinking San Francisco Chronicle have told us they felt like rats in a snake's cage. The paper is now thin enough to fit comfortably in your back pocket -- and its staff is jus ... More >>

Chronicle Slashes Subscription Rates for Weekend Delivery

The San Francisco Chronicle's new subscription offer​The cash-hemorrhaging San Francisco Chronicle last year hiked its subscription rates in what editor Ward Bushee described as an effort to make up for declining ad revenue in the digital age -- essentially asking readers to foot more of the bill ... More >>

Porn Scandal Shocks City Planners -- But Doesn't Surprise Them

Meanwhile, over at the planning department...​A number of current and former members of the city's planning department told SF Weekly they were "mortified" and angry regarding allegations that at least four senior planners have been sending around pornographic e-mails accompanied by purportedly ra ... More >>

Your Rundown on the Week in S.F. Government

Pride of the city​Over the weekend Your Correspondent was lucky enough to have one of those reality-check conversations with a reasonable layperson -- these sorts of chats come far too seldom for us poor hacks, who spend a lot of our time talking to the wonkish caste that includes legislative aide ... More >>

Stalker threatens D.A. (an opponent of the death penalty) with the electric chair

Nickel and Dime-Obsessed Chronicle Hooks Human Tragedies to Taxpayer Costs

Ah, but how much was that chalk?​Mark Shotley, the paraplegic, incontinent, pneumonia-ridden homeless man The San Francisco Chronicle characterized nine years ago as a drag on city health care funds, is dead now. But the macabre, nickel-and-dime-obsessed journalistic tic that led the paper to couc ... More >>

It's Your Friday Morning News Quiz -- Yes, There's a Prize

Lemme tell you what I can get for $72 million...​Everyone is familiar with the concept -- perform well, receive compensation. That's why Keanu Reeves pulls in the big bucks. Now it's your turn. Send your perfect scores on this quiz here and the first one to ace it wins a prize. It's tax free (so t ... More >>

December Book Events: "Is the Book Dead? High Tech and the Written Word," Michael Medved, Norman Podhoretz, Dave Eggers, San Francisco Panorama, Writers with Drinks at the Make-Out Room

You Want Fresh Faces? Our Suggestions for the 2010 GOP Slate.

On Wednesday, the latest in a batch of Republican political neophytes expressed his desire for high-ranking political office in California. Damon Dunn, the former Stanford and NFL receiver and current Orange County real-estate mogul, said he plans to run for Secretary of State.But as the San Francis ... More >>

Chronic City: There's Pot In Them Thar Hills! How To Make Marijuana Scary Again.

But the authorities say 'not so fast...'​The latest mainstream media narrative in California's marijuana wars is a spruced-up version of an old favorite: "Mexican drug traffickers" are growing massive amounts of pot in state and national parks, and are despoiling the natural environment in doing s ... More >>

Society of Professional Journalists Reassures Us of the Robustness of Our Field By Honoring Three Men: Two Dead Guys and a 90-Year-Old

In order to re-inforce our point that this year's SPJ honorees heark from a different era, here's a Spencer Tracy referenceLast week, the Society of Professional Journalists -- whose membership is growing ever more, shall we say, selective every day now -- honored three men as "fellows," the highest ... More >>

News Flash: San Francisco Menaced By 'Fog'

In other news: Soylent Green is peopleBy Fake Ward Bushee Editor, Fake San Francisco Chronicle When I first came to San Francisco after spending many years as editor of the Arizona Republic, the first thing that struck me - literally -- was Frank Vega's 7-iron (he insisted it was a tradition at the ... More >>

Chronicle's Rapid Weight Loss: New Paper Is Inch Thinner Than Old

Yes, today's new Chronicle is more than an inch thinner than its prior incarnation Of all the many complaints leveled against the San Francisco Chronicle, "It's too darn wrinkly" never came up with us. And still, there was the Chron proudly announcing the dawn of its "wrinkle-free era" today with pa ... More >>

Chron Death Watch: Panel of Journalists Talking to Audience of Journalists and Covered by Journalists Express Concerns

Could this guy have fit all the panelists and audience in his truck?In some cases, you really can tell how a story is going to end by the way the stage is set, and this was one of them. Picture this: The Society of Professional Journalists hosts a community discussion about the potential death of ... More >>

SF Wine Events, Feb. 20-March 1

All proceeds from the 2/20 Victorian wine tasting and 2/24 dinner will go to the Australian Red Cross's bushfire relief efforts.

The Shaming of Monifa the Gorilla

This gorilla's mother not only raised him, but continues to dress him.As you may have read in the morning's San Francisco Chronicle, the baby gorilla whose mother gave it a big "fuck you" is doing quite well, and needs a name. It can't be just any name though. It has to be of African origin, ... More >>

Central Coast Weekly Blasts Chron's Environmental Coverage

While the San Francisco Chronicle is busy fêting itself with daily retrospectives, journalists beyond the walls of 901 Mission are sounding a less complimentary note. In an editorial published last week, the weekly Carmel Pine Cone takes the Chron to task for its reporting on environmental question ... More >>

Why the 'Black Friday Story' Is the Enemy of Real News

By Peter JamisonThe professional world offers few examples of desiccated ritual more perfect than those to be found on newsstands the Saturday after Thanksgiving, when daily papers across the country give over their front pages to the annual Black Friday story. Every year, without fail, unlucky repo ... More >>

Prop. 8 campaign uses Chron content to scare voters

SF Gov InAction: Overtime Report Catches City Departments Working! Democracy will Save the Eastern Neighborhoods!

Print is dying, but Chron gets glossy new press

Eggers NYT OpEd: Debate Over Torch Heats Up

Best Male Vocals

Man, What Are You Doing Here? New Oil Spill Culprit: Billy Joel

Chron Watch -- What's Not Working -- SF Chronicle

Still Snoopin'

Cops Who SPY

The Continuing Evolution of Sucka Free City

Volunteers

Fear, loathing, and the Chronicle's voluntary termination incentive program

Teeny-Boppers

Bust out a can

Diversity Scramble, Left. On Two. Break.

A 49ers diversity training video included crude racial jokes, steamy strippers, and not-so-hot lesbians. So what's the problem? Take quiz, find out.

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Letters to the Editor

Week of January 22, 2002

Dog Bites

What's $100 Million When You're Homeless?; We Feel Safer Already

Fork-Beard, Vlad, and the Fat King of France

The last millennial retrospective you need to read

Mecklin

Dog Bites

Beat the Press

Dog Bites

Chatterbox