Chronicle Deserves “Shame” for Lead Story Attacking Yoshi’sRandy Shawbyline‚ Jun. 04‚ 2007In my May 22 story on how the Chronicle’s financial losses were self-inflicted, I noted the paper’s curious priorities in coverage. With Highway 580’s repair forcing the paper to end its “Meltdown at the Maze” series, and with the whales no longer in the Delta, the Chronicle turned to a “breaking” story for its June 2 lead: Yoshi’s jazz club issued a 10th anniversary CD with no African-American musicians. Was Yoshi’s action wrong and racially insensitive? Absolutely. Does the printing of 1000 CD’s by a jazz club most readers have never visited justify a front-page, lead story that accuses it of being “shamed” by the incident? Absolutely not. While Yoshi’s CD was the Chronicle’s defining story of the day, the paper provided few details about Mayor Newsom’s proposed San Francisco budget for 2007-08, released on June 1. No wonder the Chronicle loses $5 million each month while newspapers across the United States are making annual 15-25% profits. |