Chronicle’s Demise is Self-InflictedRandy Shawbyline‚ May. 22‚ 2007If you missed the news that the San Francisco Chronicle is cutting 25% of its news staff, it was “reported” in a tiny corner of the paper’s Saturday, May 19 Business section. While many blame the Chronicle’s drastic circulation decline in recent years on the Internet, this ignores the paper’s failure to address readers’ interests. The paper has no political columnist that regularly analyzes issues facing local politicians, nobody of stature covering national politics, extraordinarily weak cultural and arts coverage, and few columnists that anyone cares about reading. By targeting upscale readers over age fifty and ignoring the needs of those most likely to resort to the Internet, the Chronicle’s collapse is no surprise. |