Dire Week for News

Meera Pal

This week, I was shocked (and I mean SHOCKED), when I read that Hearst Corp. might close down the San Francisco Chronicle.

Yes, I have worked for the competition, the Bay Area News Group (which publishes the Contra Costa Times, San Jose Mercury News and the Oakland Tribune)  for quite some time and there is no love lost between the two organizations.

But, news that the paper which has been around since 1865 when it was founded as the Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers, would stop printing if the staff of 1,500 doesn't agree to some deep cuts in the next few weeks.

The Independent reporter, Stephen Foley, helped put the situation in perspective. "The San Francisco Chronicle would be by far the biggest casualty to date. It is the 12th most read paper in the US, serving the country's 14th largest city by population.

In the same week, Philadelphia Newspapers, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer filed for bankruptcy, as did The Journal Register Co., owner of the New Haven Register. 

And, of course, you would have to be living under a rock not to have heard that the Rocky Mountain News is printing its last paper today. 

The thought of losing these historic, hard-hitting newspapers makes me sick to my stomach. 

In "Cutting off your news to spite your face," San Francisco Chronicle reporter Debra J. Saunders sums it up beautifully, "As for those who only read their news online, here's a news flash: News stories do not sprout up like Jack's bean stalk on the Internet. To produce news, you need professionals who understand the standards needed to research, report and write on what happened. If newspapers die, reliable information dries up."

So, when a newspaper falls, everyone feels it.