CHRONICLE
RISING
'THIS NEWSPAPER MAY HAVE THE SAME NAME, BUT IT'S
A NEW PAPER,' SAYS THE EDITOR OF SAN FRANCISCO'S REVAMPED DAILY.
BY
JAMES V. RISSER
It
was the first Friday in April when Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
stunned the California public, the state's politicians, and the
world of business by filing for the third-largest bankruptcy in
U.S. history.
On
Saturday morning, the San Francisco Chronicle responded
with nine staff-written stories plus seven photographs, four graphics,
and an editorial.
The
next day, David Lazarus, lead writer on the Chronicle's
"Energy Crunch" team, led the Sunday edition with a detailed story
revealing how PG&E had deliberately timed its announcement
to blindside and embarrass Governor Gray Davis just hours after
he'd delivered a televised statewide speech on his solutions to
the state's energy crisis.
The
quick and impressive performance, perhaps not unusual at the nation's
best large newspapers, would have been nearly unthinkable at the
Chronicle just a few months before.
But
much has changed in the half-year since the Hearst Corp. took
over the Chronicle and sold off the Examiner.
Bulked
up with the combined news-editorial staff of 560 from the two
papers and led by a new team at the top, the Chronicle
-- long derided by critics as a frivolous underachiever -- has
become a serious journalistic player at last. Hearst's long-term
intentions toward its new property remain to be seen, although
its pledge to keep all existing staff where they are is an encouraging
early sign.
Orville
Schell, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University
of California, Berkeley, sees today's Chronicle as "certainly
an improvement" over what already had become "a pretty good newspaper."
Hearst's "deep pockets" offer the chance to "convert the Chronicle
to a great paper," says Schell, who's reserving judgment on whether
that really will happen.
Eva
Martinez, the president of the Northern California chapter of
the Society of Professional Journalists, also judges the Chronicle
"better than it was before. But I miss the old Examiner
and its sense of the people of the city; the Chronicle
still is lacking local character."
Coverage
of the breaking PG&E story is just one example of recent work,
but an important one. The old Chronicle rarely mobilized
quickly to cover a big, breaking Bay Area story. It usually ceded
that ground to the San Jose Mercury News which, for example,
won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta
earthquake.
At
the new Chronicle, among the dozens of stories about the
energy crisis was one about top PG&E executives profiting
from stock options right before the company's fortunes dropped,
another explaining how the state's utility companies were exaggerating
the growth in energy consumption to justify higher rates, and
a piece showing how a Texas energy company outsmarted California
regulators and restricted natural-gas supplies to drive prices
and its own profits higher.
Beyond
the extensive energy coverage are other significant changes --
such as more in-depth reporting projects, engaging personal profiles
(a form previously verboten), a more aggressive and probing editorial
page, and a reporting/polling alliance with KTVU, the best television
news operation in the Bay Area, and -- most importantly -- a redesigned
and meatier Sunday paper.
With
such a large staff, reporters have been team-covering some stories
that might have been handled by one reporter before. "Some of
the bylines have so many names they look like a law firm," one
staff member joked.
Leading
the makeover of the Chronicle is publisher John F. Oppedahl,
a veteran newsman and far-sighted thinker about the newspaper
business whom Hearst hired from the Arizona Republic where
he had been managing editor, executive editor, president, publisher,
and c.e.o. Oppedahl picked Phil Bronstein, a former investigative
reporter who was executive editor of the Examiner at the
time of the changeover, as his executive editor. Bronstein, a
man with a reputation for outspokenness, a passion for journalism,
and a volatile temperament, was chosen, Oppedahl said in an interview,
because "he's a dynamic leader and has great journalistic sense
and a lot of vision."
(Bronstein
added to his colorful legend last month when he was bitten by
a Komodo dragon, a seven-foot lizard, during a behind-the-scenes
tour at the Los Angeles Zoo. He pried the creature's jaws open
but at the cost of a crushed toe, which has temporarily slowed
his mobility.)
There
is "a tremendous amount of change going on in the Bay Area," but
the Chronicle has failed to explain and define it in the
past, Oppedahl says. Now, "we have to harness all these resources
to design, produce, and deliver as compelling and relevant a newspaper
as we can."
Bronstein
declares that "this newspaper may still have the same name, but
it's a new paper."
The
transition hasn't been easy, however, which surprised no one who
watched the final days of the old Chronicle and Examiner
late last autumn.
FINAL
EDITION
It
was two days before Thanksgiving when the bereft staffers of the
Examiner, having just published their last edition after
more than a century as a Hearst newspaper, gamely tried to party
in the covered Minna Street passageway beside their building.
Though
the once-dominant Examiner had less than a quarter of the
circulation of the Chronicle and its slogan "Monarch of
the Dailies" was a kind of cruel reminder of the past, it nevertheless
was more feisty, more likely to take on the local powers-that-be,
and generally underrated journalistically. There was a real sorrow
among the staff and an apprehension that something special was
being lost, even though they still had jobs at the Chronicle.
The
wine and beer bar did a big business; not all had the appetite
for the sushi, the barbecue, or the cake iced with farewell sentiments.
Sharon
Rosenhause, the Examiner's managing editor for news, describes
being bused with other staff people out to the industrial-area
printing plant a few hours earlier to watch the final edition
being run. When the last copy came off the presses with a huge
goodbye! headline, Bronstein looked it over, then handed it to
Rosenhause as a keepsake. At that point, she "lost it," she says,
and stood there weeping alongside the presses with her colleagues.
Bronstein
swept through the party with his actress wife, Sharon Stone, talked
consolingly with Examiner staffers, then left to begin
his new duties as executive editor of the Chronicle.
Oppedahl,
his appointment as Chronicle publisher announced only days
earlier, looked a bit out of place in the gritty alley setting
in his dark suit and tie among all the casually dressed Examiner
staffers.
Edvins
Beitiks, a skilled and beloved reporter who had been fighting
cancer for several years, appeared in an ensemble of retro clothes
and reminisced about the past glory days of the Examiner.
Less than two months after the party, Beitiks's cancer had claimed
him. At his funeral at San Francisco's St. Stephen's Church, columnist
Stephanie Salter, who had been an Examiner colleague and
friend, recalled that Beitiks had loved to slam the Chronicle
for "putting something so bad in a newspaper that goes out to
a half-million people who honestly deserve better."
"A
lot of people" said Salter, "actually said that Ed's dying was
the answer to the question, 'How bad did Beitiks not want to work
for the Chronicle?'"
MANAGEMENT
LINEUP
With
the Examiner claiming the top Chronicle job in the
person of Bronstein as executive editor, the Chronicle's
well-liked managing editor Jerry Roberts got to keep that post
at the new Chronicle. Matt Wilson, the previous top Chronicle
editor, is now associate publisher, working on special projects
for Oppedahl.
Managing
editor Rosenhause of the Examiner reluctantly accepted
the position of editor of a new afternoon street-sale edition
called Chronicle PM. She made a surprising success of it
with sales of more than 10,000 daily, but left in March for Fort
Lauderdale to become managing editor of the Sun-Sentinel.
She's
an exception. All Examiner staff members were guaranteed
jobs at the Chronicle, and most have stayed on.
Bronstein
acknowledges that "each staff was really traumatized" by the seismic
change, with the Chronicle going from family to corporate
ownership and with Examiner staff going through "a kind
of grieving process."
The
Chronicle saw itself as the sophisticated, urbane, regional
paper. The Examiner was quicker, more aggressive, more
local. Melding the two staffs and two philosophies into one was
tricky.
Two
months into the new arrangement, with some of the old Chronicle-Examiner
rivalries still in evidence, Bronstein delivered what he refers
to as a "stump speech," to let the combined staff know that "we're
all one now," that it's no longer "us versus them."
The
angst of last November has slowly evolved into acceptance by both
former staffs and the beginnings of pride at the progress that's
been made.
NEW
SUNDAY LOOK
Ever
since the sale of the Chronicle to Hearst was cleared by
the courts -- which happened only after Hearst kept the Examiner
alive by, in effect, giving it away to the local weekly newspaper
publisher Ted Fang and giving him a three-year, $66-million subsidy
to take it -- there had been much bold talk of transforming the
Chronicle into "the kind of newspaper San Francisco deserves."
Six
months later, the biggest change has been to the Sunday edition,
which had been one of the worst big-city Sunday papers in the
country under the previous joint-operating agreement.
The
news sections of the Sunday paper had been produced by the undermanned
Examiner staff, and content was thin and wire-dominated.
The Chronicle did some of the feature sections. Each paper
used its own type face. The whole thing was wrapped with the color
comics section. It looked, Bronstein says, as though it had been
"put together by a group of well-meaning lunatics."
Oppedahl
looked at the circulation figures and didn't like what they told
him about the Sunday paper. (The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation
figures at the end of March show the daily Chronicle at
527,466 and the Sunday Chronicle at 540,074.)
The
Sunday circulation should be 20 to 25 percent higher than the
daily and should produce half of the Chronicle's revenue,
the publisher says. "So, we've put a lot of energy and juice into
the Sunday paper." The new model debuted April 29 with the grandiose
promotional slogan, "Sundays will never be the same." The biggest
changes in it are:
*
An "Insight" section, edited by the former Examiner editorial
page editor, James Finefrock, with editorials, guest articles,
and provocative staff essays such as Louis Freedberg's piece on
the first Sunday called "The energy crisis is good for you."
*
A "Living" section, described in a guide to readers as concentrating
on lifestyle features with stories on health and fitness, spirituality,
relationship, parenting, and sex.
*
A redesigned "Real Estate" section in tabloid format so that readers
can easily pull it out and take it with them on their property
searches.
The
Sunday makeover was achieved with the assistance of the newspaper
designer Roger Black. The type and overall look have been modernized,
and the front page includes a "Top 10" rail down the left side
pointing to stories inside.
The
first issue contained 104 staff-written stories, more than in
the past, says Sunday editor Kenn Altine.nnnnnnnnnnnnn
"The Sunday paper is a definite improvement, and, over all, I've
seen positive change and much better packaging of stories," said
Félix Gutierréz, a Freedom Forum senior vice president
who lives in the Bay Area. But the Sunday magazine section is
weak and "doesn't give identity to the region and its people,"
he noted. (Oppedahl says improving the magazine is one of the
next priorities.)
But
to longtime critics of the Sunday paper, the most salutary change
in the first few issues was not in the design but the substance.
The first issue kicked off a five-part series detailing the vast
political spoils system created by Mayor Willie Brown and showing
the individuals and companies who have benefited.
When
Mayor Brown's supporters charged racism (Brown is African-American),
Bronstein answered that "no one has refuted the facts of the stories
at issue here. It is our job to shine a light on the way in which
public business is conducted by public officials."
The
next Sunday, the paper stung San Francisco's dominant air carrier,
United, with two-plus pages of stories and graphics on United's
ludicrously bad flight record.
When
a United executive phoned to complain, Bronstein asked him why
the airline continues to publish a timetable "it knows to be false."
According to Bronstein the exec responded, after a long pause,
"That's a good question." United attributed the problems to bad
weather and inadequate runway capacity.
Bronstein
told readers in an editor's note in the first new Sunday edition
that the paper's recent research had shown that San Franciscans
felt little "emotional connection" to the paper and wanted it
to better define their interests and those of the Bay Area.
In
fact, a failure to vigorously tackle issues that San Franciscans
most talk about among themselves -- filthy streets, parking regulations,
big-rig accidents that slow traffic -- has been a Chronicle
weakness.
But
it is beginning to look as though a more vigorous local watchdog
is stirring. Clearly, the talent is there, with strong reporters
and writers from both papers -- investigative aces like Lance
Williams, Reynolds Holding, and William Carlson, and the quirkily
brilliant columnist, Jon Carroll.
Editorial
page editor John Diaz, who held the same job at the "old" Chronicle,
has been given the green light to sharpen the editorial pen. Already,
the editorials are noticeably crisper and more direct.
One
Sunday editorial, which ran two columns the length of the page,
warned readers about sneaky invasions of their financial privacy
by banks and other financial institutions. "This hadn't been reported
in the news pages of the Chronicle, or the L.A. Times
for that matter, and involved original reporting on our part,"
said Diaz.
For
many on the staffs of the old Chronicle and Examiner,
the transition to the new setup was unsettling. There was nervousness
about the presence of consultants who roamed the building under
the direction of John Lavine of Northwestern University, intrigue
over who would get what jobs, and such logistical problems as
where people's desks would be and how a snarled telephone system
could be untangled.
Managing
editor Jerry Roberts sees the initial concern largely dissipated.
But there's much yet to do, with the next big project being improvements
in the paper's business section, said Roberts.
Oppedahl
openly criticized the Chronicle's business and technology
coverage, which often has paled next to that of the Mercury
News.
Other
priorities: revitalizing regional sections and bureaus; adding
a reporter to the Chronicle's Washington bureau and sending
one or two more to the state capital, Sacramento. Bronstein says
the staff now is "pulling together to pull us out of the credibility
hole we used to be in. We want to become a great newspaper, but
first we're working on becoming a very good paper."
Despite
the large staff already on hand, Bronstein has hired several editors
to work with him, including Narda Zacchino from the Los Angeles
Times as senior editor. After three decades at the Times,
most recently as associate editor and readers' representative,
Zacchino says she came to the Chronicle in May because
"this is the most exciting place to be in American journalism
today."
Zacchino's
tasks include participating in page-one meetings, overseeing production
of special editorial sections, setting up a reader representative
operation, and creating a book festival similar to the highly
successful one she ran at the Times.
One
way to view the Chronicle's market position is that it
now has a virtual monopoly in the daily newspaper field in San
Francisco. But it's not that simple. There are a number of other
daily papers in the ten-county Bay Area, many of which are available
in the city. And San Francisco (population 776,733 in the 2000
U.S. Census) is dwarfed by the metropolitan area's 6.7 million
people.
The
Chronicle is strongest, not surprisingly, in San Francisco
itself, in Marin County to the immediate north and in San Mateo
County just south. It's somewhat weaker in the East Bay, stronghold
of the Contra Costa Times, along with the Oakland Tribune,
and some smaller papers. And it sells relatively poorly in Santa
Clara County, home of the Mercury News.
In
any case, Oppedahl believes the competition is not with particular
dailies or weeklies, or even with specific foreign-language papers
or alternative papers such as the thirty-five-year-old San
Francisco Bay Guardian, a consistent Chronicle critic.
Rather, the competition is with all media and a battle for people's
time and attention, "given all the sources of information and
all the activities available to people."
Oppedahl
alarmed some of the Chronicle staff with an article he
had written for the Poynter Institute earlier this year, saying
that newspaper editors must involve their marketing departments
in editorial decisions and need to collaborate with other business-side
people in planning the paper.
But
he added that "an appropriate separation between editorial work
and advertising sales" must be maintained, and said in an interview
that "we won't cross any lines that ought not to be crossed."
In
a March speech to San Francisco's Commonwealth Club, Oppedahl
startled some with his answer to a question decrying sensationalism
in newspapers: "I think newspapers have gotten way duller than
they used to be and, if anything, ought to be a little more sensational."
He
said later that he meant "sensational only in the more positive
sense of the word," reflecting his view that newspapers will prosper
only if they're lively and if they entertain readers as well as
inform them.
The
Chronicle lost 18 percent of its daily circulation over
the previous nine years, Oppedahl noted. (At the same time, visitors
to the paper's free on-line version at sfgate.com are increasing
dramatically, he said.)
The
paper's leadership claims that readers have expressed approval
of the Sunday redesign and the Chronicle's content. Conversations
with a variety of Bay Area journalism observers generally back
them up.
A
key to the future is use of the large, combined staff. Oppedahl
has discussed buyouts and other cost-cutting measures with Hearst
executives, but George Irish, head of Hearst's newspaper division,
assured Oppedahl as recently as late May that his staff is secure.
"The management of the company will not follow the path of many
other papers in changing staff levels through layoffs or buyouts,"
the publisher said.
The
company wants the Chronicle, which Irish said is staffed
with "world-class talent," to advance to a quality worthy of the
importance of the Bay Area, noting that it is the fifth largest
market in the nation. The Hearst executive sees "a wonderful opportunity
for Sunday circulation growth" and praised the improvements that
have been made.
One
cost-saving move so far has been to reduce newsprint consumption
by shrinking the width of the newspaper pages, as many papers
are doing. Travel expenses were reduced. And Oppedahl said other
cuts have been made here and there to help compensate for the
decline in classified advertising revenue this spring, which was
down about one-quarter from the same time a year ago.
Insufficient
press capacity now requires the Chronicle to print a large
number of sections with a limited number of pages daily. Upgraded
presses are needed but would be costly.
All
in all, Oppedahl projects great optimism about the future of the
Chronicle and the Bay Area market of seven million people,
as he gazes out at San Francisco's still-growing skyline from
his large third-floor corner office above the Fifth and Mission
streets intersection.
He
describes himself as "bullish on newspapers" -- at least those
that "make sure they're relevant to their readers and connect
with them emotionally." Oppedahl thinks the Chronicle is
beginning to do just that.
James
V. Risser is retired director of the Knight Fellowships at Stanford
University. He lives in San Francisco.
