San Francisco Examiner

The San Francisco Examiner is a newspaper that has been shared with people living in and around San Francisco, California, since the year 1863. It was once called the "Monarch of the Dailies" by its owner, William Randolph Hearst, and was an important part of a big group of newspapers known as the Hearst chain.

In the early years of the 21st century, the Examiner changed to being given away for free instead of sold. Today, it is owned by a company called Clint Reilly Communications, which bought the newspaper at the end of 2020 along with another paper called the SF Weekly.

History

The Examiner started in 1863 as the Democratic Press, a newspaper in San Francisco. After a sad event in 1865, it was renamed The Daily Examiner.

In 1880, a man named George Hearst bought the Examiner. Later, he gave it to his son, William Randolph Hearst, who made the paper very popular. Writers like Mark Twain helped make it famous. The paper used exciting stories and events to attract readers.

After a big fire in 1906, the Examiner worked with other newspapers to keep people informed. The paper built a new building and kept growing.

In the 1960s, the Examiner and another paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, shared some work to save money. By the 1990s, the Examiner faced tough times and was sold to new owners.

In 2003, the Examiner became a free newspaper, which means people could pick it up without paying. New owners changed how the paper looked and what it covered, focusing on local news.

In 2020, Clint Reilly bought the Examiner and its sister paper, SF Weekly. He brought back some old styles and started new projects to reach more readers.

Staff

The San Francisco Examiner has had many writers and editors over the years. Some well-known former staff include Herb Caen, a columnist from 1950 to 1958, and Phil Bronstein, who was editor until 2012.

Recently, Allen Matthews was hired as director of editorial operations in 2021. Sadly, Al Saracevic, who became assistant managing editor in 2021, passed away not long after. Other notable former staff members include Stuart Schuffman, known as Broke-ass Stuart, who wrote a guest column before moving to the SF Weekly in 2021.

Editions

In the early 1900s, a version of the Examiner was published in the East Bay under the name Oakland Examiner. For much of the late 1900s, the paper was available far beyond San Francisco. For example, in 1982, special weekly sections inside the paper were named "City", "Peninsula", "Marin/Sonoma" and "East Bay".

During this time, a version of the Examiner was also available in Nevada. This version came out in the morning, unlike the San Francisco version which came out in the afternoon. It included news from the previous day's San Francisco edition, along with older features like comic strips for the current day.