US: San Francisco Chronicle struggles to stay afloat

The Chronicle suffered by far the largest drop in circulation of the US's 20 largest newspapers. The paper has encountered extensive competition from the internet partly because "San Francisco and nearby Silicon Valley have the most tech-savvy audience” in the US; approximately 57% of the area's population relies on the internet for news.

Two other significant issues for the paper are the following. Firstly, San Francisco's blogsphere is thriving: The region is at the forefront of a rapidly increasing number of experiments with organized blogging and "citizen journalism." Secondly, the paper has a significant classified advertising competitor it has in Craigslist.

The Los Angeles Times states, however, that the Chronicle's problems cannot all be attributed to the internet: "The Chronicle's decline can't be blamed solely on the Internet. Other factors include tough competition from other Bay Area papers and a cosmopolitan audience that reads national publications such as the New York Times." 

However, the Chronicle is "fighting back", for example by "beefing up" its website. The editor "plans online experiments such as running commentary or other reports from private citizens on his paper's SFGate.com website."

Sopurce: Los Angeles Times