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Stand-Alone Food Section Faces Demise in Bay Area (NYT)
In the food-obsessed Bay Area, the San Francisco Chronicle’s food section has been as much of a city institution as the cable car, and to many San Franciscans, more useful. Over the years it has won many awards and developed a dedicated following. Now, the Chronicle, owned by the Hearst Corporation, is planning to eliminate its stand-alone food section and integrate it into a single lifestyle section — tentatively titled “Artisan” — with material from other parts of the newspaper, including the home section, according to employees who have been told of the plans. The publisher of the Chronicle, Jeffrey Johnson, did not return calls seeking comment. However, the managing editor, Audrey Cooper, posted a response online saying that the Chronicle was actually increasing its investment in food and wine coverage. San Francisco Chronicle It’s impossible to separate food, restaurants and the culture of farm-to-table living from the San Francisco experience. For decades, these issues have formed a pillar of the San Francisco Chronicle‘s news coverage. It’s a Chronicle tradition and, most importantly, good journalism. We wouldn’t be San Francisco without it. That’s why the newsroom has been studying several ways to build on the foundation created by our award-winning staff. We’re disappointed by recent inaccurate reports in The New York Times, which has attempted to compete with us in this arena. SF Station A bi-coastal food fight is brewing between the San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times after the Times published a report with anonymous sources that claims the Chronicle will merge its standalone food section with other sections in the paper. It’s another sign of the newspaper industry’s slow, painful death — or could it be a power play by the Times, looking to gain leverage in the San Francisco market? NY Observer Although the Hearst Corporation-owned newspaper has downsized in recent years, the food section, a Bay Area institution, has been spared the ravages of the media industry. Not only was the food and wine section located in a separate building with a test kitchen and an “extensive wine cellar,” but the newspaper had a garden and honey-producing bees on the rooftop that were used in the test recipes. But during a meeting this month, Chronicle president Joanne Bradford said that the section was just not “sustainable.”
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