San Francisco Examiner

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San Francisco Examiner

The San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th Century.

History

19th century
20th and 21st centuries

New business model
References
External links

History

19th century

The beginning of the Examiner is a topic of some controversy. The date for its start is often given as 1865, but former Examiner columnist P.J. Corkery has written that its first issue was actually printed on October 20, 1863, under the name The Daily Democratic Press but that on June 12, 1865, the same newspaper "began to appear on the streets as The Examiner." The reason, he said, was the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865.

When word of Lincoln?s assassination reached San Francisco, angry citizens stormed the offices of the newspaper that would become The Examiner, wrecked it and set fire to it, as the Daily Democratic Press had been a pro-Confederacy, pro-slavery newspaper. The citizens of San Francisco, outraged that southern sympathizers had murdered Lincoln, sought to kill the paper and the editors. The proprietors, recovering their typecases from the ashes, decided an image change was in order, and renamed the paper, The Examiner.^[1]

The paper was bought by mining engineer and entrepreneur George Hearst in 1880 and seven years later he gave it to his son, William Randolph Hearst, who was then 23 years old. A story that Hearst had won the paper in a poker game is "pure Hearst mythology," Corkery wrote, but other sources continue to make that or a similar statement.^[2]^[3]

Under Hearst, the paper's popularity increased greatly, with the help of such writers as Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, and the San Francisco-born Jack London.^[4] Sales were helped by the Examiner's version of yellow journalism, printing scandal and satire, as well as helping build support for the Spanish-American war and the annexation of the Philippines.

20th and 21st centuries

After the great earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed much of San Francisco, the Examiner and its rivals ? the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Call ? brought out a joint edition. The Examiner offices were destroyed on April 18, 1906 ^[5]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. ^[6]

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. When Chronicle Publishing Company divested its interests, the Hearst Corporation purchased the Chronicle. To satisfy antitrust concerns, Hearst transferred ownership of the Examiner to ExIn, LLC, a corporation owned by the Fang family ^[7], which also owns the national magazine AsianWeek. The last day the Hearst Corporation published the Examiner was November 21, 2000. ^[8] The Fang's tenure was criticized as being heavily partisan. On the other hand, the Examiner was also praised for detailed coverage of local politics that at times rankled local politicos. In May 2002, the Examiner relaunched as a tabloid. On February 24, 2003, the Examiner became a free daily newspaper.

On February 19, 2004, Philip Anschutz of Denver, Colorado purchased the Examiner and its printing plant. His new company, Clarity Media Group, launched the Washington Examiner in 2005 and Baltimore Examiner in 2006. The Examiner is currently run by Anschutz subsidiary SF Newspaper Company.

New business model

Under Clarity ownership, the Examiner pioneered a new business model^[9] for the newspaper industry. Designed to be read quickly, the Examiner is presented in a compact, tabloid size without story jumps. It focuses on local news, business, entertainment and sports with an emphasis on content relevant to local readers. It is delivered free to targeted homes in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, and to single-copy outlets throughout that market area. Its circulation is audited by Certified Audit of Circulation (CAC).