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The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...
distributed in and around
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
, and
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...
of the
Hearst Corporation Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, telev ...
chain, the ''Examiner'' converted to free distribution early in the 21st century and is owned by Clint Reilly Communications, which bought the newspaper at the end of 2020 along with the ''SF Weekly''.


History


Founding

The ''Examiner'' was founded in 1863 as the ''Democratic Press'', a pro- Confederacy, pro-
slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, pro- Democratic Party paper opposed to
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
, but after his assassination in 1865, the paper's offices were destroyed by a mob, and starting on June 12, 1865, it was called ''The Daily Examiner''.


Hearst acquisition

In 1880, mining engineer and entrepreneur George Hearst bought the ''Examiner''. Seven years later, after being elected to the U.S. Senate, he gave it to his son,
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
, who was then 23 years old. The elder Hearst "was said to have received the failing paper as partial payment of a poker debt." William Randolph Hearst hired S.S. (Sam) Chamberlain, who had started the first American newspaper in Paris, as managing editor and Arthur McEwen as editor, and changed the ''Examiner'' from an evening to a morning paper. Under him, the paper's popularity increased greatly, with the help of such writers as
Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...
,
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...
, and the San Francisco-born
Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
. It also found success through its version of yellow journalism, with ample use of foreign correspondents and splashy coverage of scandals such as two entire pages of cables from Vienna about the Mayerling Incident; satire; and patriotic enthusiasm for the
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...
and the 1898 annexation of the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. William Randolph Hearst created the masthead with the "Hearst Eagle" and the slogan ''Monarch of the Dailies'' by 1889 at the latest.


20th century

After the great earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed much of San Francisco, the ''Examiner'' and its rivals—the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...
'' and the '' San Francisco Call''—brought out a joint edition. The ''Examiner'' offices were destroyed on April 18, 1906, but when the city was rebuilt, a new structure, the Hearst Building, arose in its place at Third and Market streets. It opened in 1909, and in 1937 the facade, entranceway and lobby underwent an extensive remodeling designed by architect Julia Morgan. Through the middle third of the twentieth century, the ''Examiner'' was one of several dailies competing for the city's and the Bay Area's readership; the San Francisco ''News'', the San Francisco ''Call-Bulletin'', and the ''
Chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...
'' all claimed significant circulation, but ultimately attrition left the ''Examiner'' one chief rival—the ''Chronicle''. Strident competition prevailed between the two papers in the 1950s and 1960s; the ''Examiner'' boasted, among other writers, such columnists as veteran sportswriter Prescott Sullivan, the popular
Herb Caen Herbert Eugene Caen (; April 3, 1916 February 1, 1997) was a San Francisco humorist and journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, and offbeat puns and anecdotes—"A continuous love le ...
, who took an eight-year hiatus from the ''Chronicle'' (1950–1958), and
Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider ...
, one of the best-known men of California letters and a leading San Francisco Renaissance poet, who contributed weekly impressions of the city from 1960 to 1967. Ultimately, circulation battles ended in a merging of resources between the two papers. For 35 years starting in 1965, the ''San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner'' operated under a Joint Operating Agreement whereby the ''Chronicle'' published a morning paper and the ''Examiner'' published in the afternoon. The ''Examiner'' published the Sunday paper's news sections and glossy magazine, and the ''Chronicle'' contributed the features. Circulation was approximately 100,000 on weekdays and 500,000 on Sundays. By 1995, discussion was already brewing in print media about the possible shuttering of the ''Examiner'' due to low circulation and an extremely disadvantageous revenue sharing agreement for the ''Chronicle''. On October 31, 1969, sixty members of the
Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK and Canada. The GLF provided a ...
, the Committee for Homosexual Freedom (CHF), and the Gay Guerilla Theatre group staged a protest outside the offices of the ''Examiner'' in response to a series of news articles disparaging people in San Francisco's
gay bar A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term '' gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities. Gay bars once serv ...
s and clubs. The peaceful protest against the ''Examiner'' turned tumultuous and was later called "Friday of the Purple Hand" and "Bloody Friday of the Purple Hand." (courtesy: the Gay Lesbian Historical Society. ''Examiner'' employees "dumped a barrel of printers' ink on the crowd from the roof of the newspaper building." The protestors "used the ink to scrawl slogans on the building walls" and slap purple hand prints "throughout downtown
an Francisco An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian a ...
resulting in "one of the most visible demonstrations of gay power" according to the '' Bay Area Reporter''. According to Larry LittleJohn, then president of
Society for Individual Rights The homophile movement is a collective term for the main organisations and publications supporting and representing sexual minorities in the 1950s to 1960s around the world. The name comes from the term ''homophile'', which was commonly used by the ...
, "At that point, the tactical squad arrived – not to get the employees who dumped the ink, but to arrest the demonstrators. Somebody could have been hurt if that ink had gotten into their eyes, but the police were knocking people to the ground." The accounts of
police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to ...
included instances of women being thrown to the ground and protesters' teeth being knocked out. In its
stylebook A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gener ...
and by tradition, the ''Examiner'' refers to San Francisco as "The City" (capitalized), both in headlines and text of stories. San Francisco slang has traditionally referred to the newspaper in abbreviated slang form as "the Ex" (and the ''Chronicle'' as "the Chron"). File:1942.02.26 San-Francisco-Examiner.jpg, ''San Francisco Examiner'' front page, Friday, February 27, 1942 File:San Francisco Examiner.jpg, ''The Examiner'', 2007


21st century


Fang acquisition

When the Chronicle Publishing Company divested its interests, the
Hearst Corporation Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, telev ...
purchased the ''Chronicle''. To satisfy
antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
concerns, Hearst sold the ''Examiner'' to ExIn, LLC, a corporation owned by the politically connected Fang family, publishers of the ''
San Francisco Independent The ''San Francisco Independent'' was the largest non-daily newspaper in the United States. It helped to popularize the free newspaper as a business model at the beginning of the 21st century, and also rescued the ''San Francisco Examiner'' from ...
'' and the ''San Mateo Independent''. San Francisco political consultant Clint Reilly filed a lawsuit against Hearst, charging that the deal did not ensure two competitive newspapers and was instead a generous deal designed to curry approval. However, on July 27, 2000, a federal judge approved the Fangs' assumption of the ''Examiner'' name, its archives, 35 delivery trucks, and a subsidy of $66 million, to be paid over three years. From their side, the Fangs paid Hearst US$100 for the ''Examiner''. Reilly later acquired the ''Examiner'' in 2020. On February 24, 2003, the ''Examiner'' became a
free daily newspaper Free newspapers are distributed Gratis versus libre, free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. Th ...
, printed Sunday through Friday.


Anschutz acquisition

On February 19, 2004, the Fang family sold the ''Examiner'' and its printing plant, together with the two ''Independent'' newspapers, to
Philip Anschutz Philip Frederick Anschutz ( ; born December 28, 1939) is an American billionaire businessman who owns or controls companies in a variety of industries, including energy, railroads, real estate, sports, newspapers, movies, theaters, arenas and m ...
of
Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. His new company,
Clarity Media Group The Anschutz Corporation is an American private holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, United States.The Washington Examiner'' in 2005 and published '' The Baltimore Examiner'' from 2006 to 2009. In 2006, Anschutz donated the archives of the ''Examiner'' to the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it reta ...
, the largest gift ever given to the library. Under Clarity ownership, the ''Examiner'' pioneered a new business model for the newspaper industry. Designed to be read quickly, the ''Examiner'' is presented in a
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in Britis ...
size without story jumps. It focuses on local news, business, entertainment and sports with an emphasis on content relevant to its local readers. It is delivered free to select neighborhoods in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
and San Mateo counties, and to single-copy outlets throughout
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and
Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santia ...
counties. By February 2008, the company had transformed the newspaper's
examiner.com Examiner.com was an American news website based in Denver, Colorado, that operated using a network of " pro-am contributors"' for content. It had various local editions with contributors posting city-based items tailored to 238 markets througho ...
domain into a national
hyperlocal Hyperlocal is information oriented around a well-defined community with its primary focus directed toward the concerns of the population in that community. The term can be used as a noun in isolation or as a modifier of some other term (e.g. new ...
brand, with local websites throughout the United States.


Independent ownership

Clarity Media sold the ''Examiner'' to San Francisco Newspaper Company LLC in 2011. The company's investors included then-President and Publisher Todd Vogt, Chief Financial Officer Pat Brown, and
David Holmes Black David Holmes Black (born April 9, 1946), is a Canadian media proprietor who founded and is the majority owner of Black Press Group Ltd. He serves as the company's Chairman, and previously served as its Chief Executive Officer and President. Blac ...
. Early, incorrect media reports stated that the paper was purchased by Black's company Black Press. In 2014, Vogt sold his shares to Black Press. Present-day owners of the ''Examiner'' also own ''
SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...
'', an
alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...
, and previously owned the now-shuttered ''
San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1966 by Bruce B. Brugmann and his wife, Jean Dibble. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. It was relaun ...
''.


Clint Reilly acquisition

In December 2020, Clint Reilly, under his company, Clint Reilly Communications, acquired the ''SF Examiner'' for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition included buying the ''SF Weekly'' "like a stocking stuffer," Reilly said. He also owns ''Gentry Magazine'' and the ''Nob Hill Gazette''. He then hired editor-in-chief Carly Schwartz in 2021. Under her leadership, a
broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats. Description Many broadsheets measure roughly ...
-style newspaper was re-introduced, and she launched two newsletters with a nod to the rise in popularity of email marketing models such as Substack. Schwartz also put the SF Weekly on hiatus "for the foreseeable future," ending a more-than-40-year tenure. In July 2022, Schwartz announced via a
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
post that she had stepped away from the role, stating that while it was a "'dream job' on paper," it didn't give her enough time to travel. She then went to write her memoir and go to
Burning Man Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred ...
.


Staff


Current

* Allen Matthews was hired as director of editorial operations in 2021.


Former

* Phil Bronstein, editor (left ''Examiner'' in 2012) *
Herb Caen Herbert Eugene Caen (; April 3, 1916 February 1, 1997) was a San Francisco humorist and journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, and offbeat puns and anecdotes—"A continuous love le ...
, columnist (1950–1958) * C. H. Garrigues, jazz columnist (retired 1967) *
Howard Lachtman Howard Lawrence Lachtman (born July 8, 1941) is an American academic, literary critic, editor and author, who has written extensively on the life and works of Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle, and on crime fiction as a whole. Early life and ca ...
, literary critic (1977–1986) *
Edgar Orloff Edgar S. Orloff (June 17, 1923 – June 4, 1983) was a San Francisco Bay Area-based newspaper columnist and editor. He wrote the nationally syndicated columns '' Medicine Today'' (?-1983), which explained medical breakthroughs to a non-technical ...
, assistant managing editor (retired 1982) *
David Talbot David Talbot (born September 22, 1951) is an American journalist, author, activist and independent historian. Talbot is known for his books about the "hidden history" of U.S. power and the liberal movements to change America, as well as his p ...
, founder of the early online magazine ''
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...
'' *
Ernest Thayer Ernest Lawrence Thayer (; August 14, 1863 – August 21, 1940) was an American writer and poet who wrote the poem "Casey" (or " Casey at the Bat"), which is "the single most famous baseball poem ever written" according to the Baseball Almanac, an ...
, humor columnist (1886–1888) * Staff writer Joseph Fitzgerald Rodriguez wrote the On Guard column until his departure in 2020. * Stuart Schuffman, also known as
Broke-ass Stuart Stuart Schuffman (born December 16, 1980), better known as Broke-Ass Stuart, is an American travel writer and blogger known for his guide book ''Broke-Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco'', of which he released two versions i ...
, was a guest columnist. In 2021, he announced that after years, he would be moving his column to ''
SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...
''. That ended when Carly Schwartz put SF Weekly on indefinite hiatus. * Al Saracevic was hired as assistant managing editor in 2021. Saracevic died of a sudden heart attack in August 2022. He was working on assignment for SF Examiner at the time of his death. * Carly Schwartz, who was once editor-in-chief of an internal Google news product for employees, was hired as the Examiner's editor-in-chief in 2021. Schwartz announced in 2022 that while it was a "'dream job' on paper," it didn't give her enough time to travel. She left the role in order to write her memoir and go to
Burning Man Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred ...
.


Editions

In the early 20th century, an edition of the ''Examiner'' circulated in the East Bay under the ''Oakland Examiner'' masthead. Into the late 20th century, the paper circulated well beyond San Francisco. In 1982, for example, the ''Examiner''s zoned weekly supplements within the paper were titled "City", "
Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...
", " Marin/ Sonoma" and " East Bay". Additionally, during the late 20th century, an edition of the ''Examiner'' was made available in
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
which, coming out in the morning rather than in the afternoon as the San Francisco edition did, would feature news content from the San Francisco edition of the day before—for instance, Tuesday's news in the Nevada edition that came out on Wednesday—but with dated non-hard news content—comic strips, feature columnists—for Wednesday.


See also

* ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...
'' * San Francisco newspaper strike of 1994


References


External links


''San Francisco Examiner'' website

Guide to the Fang Family ''San Francisco Examiner'' photograph archive, c. 1930–2000
at
The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Francisco Examiner 1863 establishments in California Anschutz Corporation Companies based in San Francisco Daily newspapers published in the San Francisco Bay Area Free daily newspapers History of San Francisco Publications established in 1863