SF Chronicle
Layoffs

The Hearst Corporation, former owner of the SF Examiner, only just completed its purchase of the SF Chronicle in July 2000. Last week the Hearst Corporation announced predicted layoffs. In their effort to win approval to purchase the SF Chronicle, they gave Ted Fang the SF Examiner paper, $66 million, and equipment to establish and carry on that newspaper. Another part of that deal was a union agreement to not lay off staff who were hired before the purchase, only those after the purchase.

Last week, the Hearst Corporation announced that they would lay off 220 of their staff. They contend that the layoffs are the result of declining ad revenues because of the economy's decline. These layoffs come ironically after they launched a number of vicious attacks against Ted Fang and his SF Examiner Newspaper.

Many observers said that $66 million over three years was not enough to maintain a significant daily to compete. The SF Chronicle attacks on the Fang paper, undermining it were predictable. They used Dan Fost, their Tech writer, to spearhead the attacks. But when announcing the Chronicle's layoff, his tone was markedly softer and more understanding. While his attacks on Ted Fang were markedly biting, demeaning, and condescending.

In 1998, the SF Chronicle, before the Hearst Corporation purchased it, moved aggressively into the East Bay to take advantage of the weak position of the Oakland Tribune, a once Black owned paper that was bought out by the ANG Newsper group.

Although the SF Chronicle has increased its circulation numbers, the Hearst Corporation needs profits, and cutting staff is the quickest way to get them. It is unclear whether the announced cuts will do the trick. There had been a shortage of staff in the Chronicle's East Bay bureau, still some predict that any next round of cuts will come from the East Bay, further weakening that bureau. This prediction is based on the Hearst Corporation's past indifference to minority communities.

Time will reveal where these cuts will come from; if they are in the East Bay, most readers feel that there will be no shotage of coverage because there has been little positive attention to ethnic minority communities already. []