By Gina Cuclis

More Layoffs at the San Francisco Chronicle:

News broke Thursday that the Chronicle was laying off another 30 employees, including ten reporters. In February, the owner of the 144-year-old newspaper, the Hearst Corp., said it would close or sell the Chronicle if it couldn't get enough concessions from its employee's unions. Hearst said at that time that the Chronicle was losing $50 million a year.

FaceBook Groups Formed:

Since the initial news of the potential demise of the SF Chronicle, four Save the San Francisco Chronicle FaceBook Groups have formed. They differentiate their names by using exclamation points or SF in the title. Two of the groups appear to be intended to appeal to particular age groups. The largest, with 3,992 members, is Save the San Francisco Chronicle. I recently joined this group when I noticed several people I know are members. While I don't necessary think the Chronicle is a great newspaper, I simply can't image a world class city like San Francisco not having a daily newspaper.


With the second largest membership, at 409, is Save the San Francisco Chronicle!

This FaceBook group seems to have been started by an individual who wanted a home for the Chronicle's more mature readers. However, this group only has 25 members.

Last, this group was started by a college student. It's 85 members appear to be in the 20-30 something age group.
Save the San Francisco Chronicle Blog:

This blog follows news regarding the state of the Chronicle with links to articles, videos and other blogs. It Includes posts by former Chronicle employees. The blog's author says it's "for advocates of saving the San Francisco Chronicle— and, by extension, journalism. We need journalists today, perhaps more than ever."

I agree we need journalists. I think a question Stephen Colbert asked in jest to Chronicle Editor Phil Bronstein, when he was on the Colbert Report last month, points out where communities could head if they have no daily newspapers. Colbert asked, if there are no newspapers, "are we about to enter a golden age of corruption?"

Maybe the question is a bit over the top. But this begs the question I asked in my May 10, 2009 post, who will be the watchdog?

The Irony of Social Media

The irony is that the Internet, particularly the Web, is the main reason print media is dieing. Current economic conditions are simply accelerating what was already happening. I don't believe FaceBook groups or any social media can help save the Chronicle. Unless the groups' members all buy full page ads ASAP. Or if one of them is wealthy enough to start a foundation to buy the Chronicle and operate it as a nonprofit. I hope if you belong to a Save the San Francisco Chronicle FaceBook group, you at least are paying for a subscription to the paper.