SF Weekly

SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Thursday, is published by the San Francisco Newspaper Company. Founded locally in the late 1970s by Christopher Hildreth and Edward Bachman and originally named ‘San Francisco Music Calendar, the Magazine or Poster Art’, Christopher saw a need for local artists to have a place to advertise performances and articles. The key feature was the centerfold calendar listings for local art events. Bought by Village Voice Media (then New Times Media) in 1995, SF Weekly has garnered notable national journalism awards.[2][3] The paper sponsored the SF Weekly Music Awards, also known as the "Wammies."

SF Weekly
TypeAlternative weekly
FormatTabloid
Owner(s)San Francisco Media Co.
PublisherJay Curran
Editor-in-chiefDeborah Petersen
EditorRichard Procter
Foundedmid-1980s
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters835 Market St.
Suite 550
San Francisco, California 94103[1]
Circulation70,000 (2018)
Websitewww.sfweekly.com

In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed Voice Media Group.[4] Four months later, SF Weekly was sold to The San Francisco Media Company, owners of The San Francisco Examiner and long-time rivals San Francisco Bay Guardian,[5] giving the publishers control of three of the four major English-language newspapers in San Francisco.[6] In 2014, San Francisco Media Co. became fully owned by Black Press.[7][8]

Sections
  • SF Weekly also publishes SF Evergreen, a cannabis publication, both online and in print.
  • News: includes local, regional and sometimes statewide short and longform, in depth news stories.
  • Arts and Entertainment: includes a weekly calendar, city events listings, a music section with a weekly music column, several music features, show reviews. The section also includes a food column, film reviews, theater reviews, as well as Dan Savage's syndicated sex advice column Savage Love, and astrology chart Free Will Astrology.

Controversies

Armenian Genocide

With an October 30, 2007 Op-Ed blog entitled "SF's Needs to Kill Its Armenian Genocide Resolution", Benjamin Wachs stirred controversy due to remarks deemed to be extremely offensive by descendants of survivors of the genocide by pondering what gift would most appropriate for his girlfriend to celebrate Armenian Genocide Day.[9] The Weekly's former web editor David Downs responded by musing "If there was a genocide, then why is there so many left of you around to bitch?"[10]

Ethics

The SF Weekly was the subject of ethical controversy in Jan., 2006, when a column about the AVN porn awards misidentified the event's location and honorees. The paper's editor had apparently altered a column about a different event from years before.[11][12]

Bay Guardian Company, Inc. v SF Weekly, et al.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian, another free alternative weekly newspaper distributed every Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area, sued SF Weekly in civil court, alleging that it tried to put the Bay Guardian out of business by selling ads below cost. The Guardian won the suit in March, 2008, and was granted a $6.2 million in damages, a figure that swelled to $21 million with antitrust penalties and interest by June 2010. After the verdict, the Guardian obtained court orders allowing it to seize and sell the Weekly′s two delivery trucks and collect half of the Weekly′s ad revenue.[13]

Headquarters

SF Weekly is on Market Street [14] Previous locations included: Suite 710 225 Bush Street, 55 Francisco Street,[15] Suite 3800 of 185 Berry Street (China Basin Landing), and 425 Brannan Street.

Awards
California News Publishers Association[16]
  • 2018: Writing, 1st place, The Biggest Loss in Paradise: Its Elders, Nuala Sawyer, SF Weekly
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
  • 2002: Investigative Reporting: (Above 54,000) 1st Place: "Fallout" by Lisa Davis and John Mecklin, SF Weekly
  • 2004: Investigative Reporting: (Above 50,000) 1st Place (tie): "Death, Maiming, Money, and Muni" by Peter Byrne, SF Weekly
  • 2004: News Story: (Above 50,000) 1st Place: Lisa Davis, SF Weekly
  • 2008: Cover Design: (Above 50,000) 1st Place: Darrick Rainey, "Wheelchairs of Fortune" July 25, 2007; "Just Say No" May 23, 2007, "Future Games" April 27, 2007, SF Weekly
  • 2009: News Story: (Above 50,000) 1st Place: "Snitch" by Ashley Harrell, SF Weekly
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
  • 2009: Humor: 1st Place: Katy St. Clair, Bouncer

See also
  • Journalism portal
  • San Francisco Bay Area portal

References
  1. http://www.sfweekly.com/sf-weekly-terms-use/
  2. Vane, Sharyn (November 1998). "Consider the Alternative". American Journalism Review. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  3. Richard Siklos (October 24, 2005). "The Village Voice, Pushing 50, Prepares to Be Sold to a Chain of Weeklies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  4. "Village Voice Media Execs Acquire The Company's Famed Alt Weeklies, Form New Holding Company". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  5. "SF Weekly purchased by parent company of San Francisco Examiner". San Francisco Examiner. 9 January 2013. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
  6. Andrew S. Ross (9 January 2013). "SF Weekly, Bay Guardian have same owner". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-01-11.
  7. Eskenazi, Joe (2014-05-06). "Todd Vogt, San Francisco Print Media Company President, Likely to Sell SF Weekly, Bay Guardian, Examiner". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2014-10-15.
  8. Dudnick, Laura (2014-07-02). "New publisher named for San Francisco Media Co". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2014-10-15.
  9. Benjamin Wachs (30 October 2007). "SF's Needs to Kill Its Armenian Genocide Resolution". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  10. David Downs (16 November 2007). "Your Friday Morning Pre-Party: Boobs, Barry, Busan, and ... BoldWarKids". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  11. Tali Woodward (13 July 2006). "Porn story Puzzle: Behind the Infiltrator Mess at SF Weekly". San Francisco Bay Guardian. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  12. SFist Jackson (18 January 2006). "Did the SF Weekly Scapegoat Harmon Leon". SFist. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  13. Bob Egelko (14 June 2010). "SF Weekly wants Guardian's damage award tossed". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  14. http://www.sfweekly.com/sf-weekly-terms-use/
  15. "Contact Us". SF Weekly. Retrieved on March 3, 2012. "Address: 55 Francisco St. Suite 710, San Francisco, CA 94133"
  16. California News Publishers Association
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