Read All About It — Daily Journalism Makes a Comeback
Daily journalism, at least in many cities, seems to be enjoying a revival. Here in San Francisco, there are at least four dailies now challenging the hegemony of the Hearst-owned SF Chronicle. Two of them are scrappy, independent nonprofits -- 48 Hills and Mission Local. And two were launched by wealthy men -- the San Francisco Standard, bankrolled by billionaire investor Michael Moritz (who interviewed me about my memoir for the Bay Area Book Festival) and the San Francisco Examiner, which is owned by local media mogul and real estate player Clint Reilly.
I love that the tired, corporate-leaning Chronicle finally has some competition. It's suddenly like the "Front Page" days of city journalism, when multiple newspapers fought it out for readers and ad dollars. Will the Chronicle respond by suddenly livening up its pages? Don't bet on it. The leading daily seems content with its current dull, middle-of-the-road approach. Its only fire-breathing columnist is Heather Knight, who crusades for corporate power and conventional civic values. They must love her in the suburbs.
The Chron's competitors all have something better to offer. The Examiner has the colorful, locally informed editor and writer Al Saracevic and sharp editorialist Gil Duran (why don't I see his byline more often?) Mission Local has the very good reporter Joe Eskenazi. 48 Hills is run by my friend Tim Redmond, and it's not biased to say nobody has a better grasp of our city than he does.
The San Francisco Standard boasts a relatively big newsroom. It's loaded with solid local journalism. And it claims to be independent of its wealthy ownership. But it looks -- and too often reads -- like a corporate annual report. I'm rarely shocked or even surprised by anything I read in the Standard. (Though I was amused to hear Mayor-for-Life Willie Brown -- who helped impose the corrupt rules of Ed Lee and London Breed on us -- urge Chesa Boudin to run again for DA, even though the Breed machine loathes him.)
As I've argued on this page before, there is no secret to good daily journalism -- which I practiced for years at Salon and, yes, the Examiner and Chronicle. You need to break big stories (like the investigative reporting that Salon did on the Clinton impeachment machine, the Bush-Cheney "victory," Abu Ghraib etc) and to feature compelling writers (like fearless Salon Iraq War correspondent Phillip Robertson and columnists/reporters/critics as diverse as Camille Paglia, Rebecca Traister, Anne Lamott, Laura Miller, Joan Walsh, Jake Tapper, Glenn Greenwald, Gary Kamiya, Stanley Crouch, Arianna Huffington, Joe Conason, David Horowitz, Michelle Goldberg, James Poniewozik, Cintra Wilson, Dwight Garner, Christopher Hitchens etc.)
The Examiner obviously believes in distinctive writing, but still has a way to go before they boast a full stable of good writers. The nonprofits have feisty spirit and a commitment to covering life on the city streets and City Hall malfeasance. But where are the big exposés that get the whole city talking?
When I first started out in journalism, the "Who Rules" reports were the bread and butter of countless New Left pamphlets (Who Rules Columbia University, Who Rules Congress etc.) This would STILL be an eye-catching way to capture readers' attention. Here in SF, we have a vague sense of the corporate powers and special interests behind Mayor Breed's reign at City Hall, but we don't know for sure -- because the local media won't go there.
Don't expect the Chronicle or the Standard to expose Big Money in SF -- their overlords are too cozy with these powers. I'm sure that 48 Hills and Mission Local would do more investigative reporting if they had the resources.
This is the Catch-22 for the truly independent press in America. Philanthropic billionaires like Moritz generally have the best First Amendment intentions. They're genuinely concerned, as we all are, about the decline of democracy in the U.S. But their money always comes with strings attached -- even when they insist it doesn't. Their influence on these media startups begins right away -- when they start hiring the editorial staffs.
So if you believe in a truly free press -- right here in Bay City -- you'll subscribe to 48 Hills and Mission Local. A free press is NEVER free.
