As you might recall, the recently Chron announced that, in an effort “to provide a better reading experience for Sunday print subscribers and to differentiate it from our website,” certain items that appear in the print and e-edition Sunday Chronicle would not appear on their website until the following Tuesday.
Not that folks who buy their Sunday print Chron as a single copy would necessarily know that! because, like last week, the Chron hid their print only content from folks who’d see it at the newsstand or bodega or whatever. See, I made another movie about it:
(Shaking head). Anyway, our print only stuff this week’s 3 of the 4 front page stories (the 4th is the NYT’s coverage ((The Chron licenses some of their content)) of the Chile earthquake, which you can find here), and 6 columns, some of which are new to the print only world! We have the usual Native Son, Matier & Ross, Willie’s World, and Scott Ostler, with columnist John Shea and staff writer/blogger Henry Schulman joining the papered ranks.
What are these 9 “news” stories the Chronicle didn’t consider imperatively newsy enough to make available to SFGate readers for a few days? Let’s see:
Ex-workers’ vacation time forces big payouts Hey, Chronicle, are my husband and I still “exclusive” if my marriage took place in SF but I bang Jason Statham in Berkeley? (please say “yes”). Because you say that this story written by Chase Davis, of the Center for Investigative Reporting, is “exclusive to the print edition,” but, one can check out a database of the payouts, see the infographic the Chronicle made for the story, and read the actual story on the CIR site, or read it on the Fresno Bee’s, Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s, or North County Times’ sites. That is a definition of “exclusive” that I fail to understand. Worth the $3? I just told you, like, a thousand other places you can read it so NO, dummy.
SFPD takes 2nd look at Tasers Chief Gascon wants SFPD to get Tasers, and the Police Commission is going to vote on it this week. There’s a lot of research out there that says Tasers might stop your heart, and some studies say cops “overuse” Tasers. But it might keep people from getting shot! This story’s a respectable piece of research, and there will probably be a couple of 800 year old people who type out and mail letters to the editor saying “I had no idea sending an electrical charge through peoples’ bodies could impact heart rhythm thank you for this report” so, there’s that. Worth the $3? If you’re one of those letter writers, you’re not reading the Appeal, so I can confidently suggest that you’ll be fine if you wait until Tuesday to read this, if at all.
Determination defines Yahoo CEO James Temple profiles Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, but neither she nor any other Yahoo execs cooperated with the Chron for the piece, so it relies heavily on other interviews she’s done, info from her brother, Jim, and stuff from a book called Betting it all. Did you know that Hearst newspapers (which owns the Chronicle) is partnered with Bartz’s company, Yahoo, in a relationship that’s viewed as the future of newspaper moneymaking, and that Yahoo’s responsible for a significant portion of the revenue generated by SFGate, where this story will (eventually) appear? Not from this story, you wouldn’t. Worth the $3? If you’re gonna profile someone without talking to them, you gotta give me some quotes that aren’t from interviews I could have read already. And maybe mentioning that your company has a (reportedly lucrative) business relationship with the profilee’s company?
Carl Nolte, Native Son Fine tradition in final throes, the long San Francisco lunch Another week, another thing that’s almost gone — this week it’s the “long lunch” and the “dining club” all of which sounds very Mad Men, but people got shit to do, dude. Worth the $3? Sigh. Do you have to ask?
Matier & Ross Black Muslims’ scuffle with ex-cop likely to fade Their first item was in the Examiner on Friday. Their other item? Newsom’s poll ratings are going down in SF. Yeah. Worth the $3? The Examiner’s free to read, and faster with the story, and if you needed to be told people in SF are frustrated with Newsom, I have this Taser I think you might like getting shocked with.
Willie’s World Spotlight on Muni pay — big payoff for Elsbernd Supe Elsbernd’s push to change how Muni drivers get paid could have implications for police and fire, and will not endear him to labor. Even Michelle Obama couldn’t watch all 6.5 hours of her husband’s televised health care summit. Big welcome home party for Julie Lee, who apparently lost 40 lbs in prison, at House of Prime Rib (second week in a row HoPR gets a shout out! I gotta find a restaurant I can mention for NO COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER I’M SURE). Many supes want Willie’s help to meet Rose Pak because they apparently can’t do it without him. Willie had lunch with Oakland city council member Rebecca Kaplan at Pican (think this is mention #1!). Willie went to some event and everyone wanted their picture with SFPD Chief Gascon. Willie loved “Ghost Writer,” hated “Cop Out.” Willie thinks Winter Olympics uniforms look like clown suits. Worth the $3? The Taco Shop At Underdogs? CALL ME. Also, oh my god no, so not worth the $3.
Bench has a real need for speed Henry Schulman is at Giants spring training. I assume that if you’re into the Giants enough to follow this kind of stuff, you’re getting your news elsewhere and faster and online…Worth the $3? But, my take is the value is the institutional knowledge, analysis and thought Schulman (and, as you see below, his colleagues) offers. So if you are not a Schulman fan, no, if you like his take, sure.
Scott Ostler, Sunday Punch The Stars of Spring Align More Giants spring training talk, but it’s not really news — more musing on the “balance” of thing (one guy lost weight, another gained, etc. Worth the $3? Sure, for same reasons as above.
John Shea Cactus League features record 15 teams this year As spring training stuff, Giants salary arbitration talk, other staffing chat. Worth the $3? At this point, I’m seeing what they’re were doing here, and I kind of dig it — it looks like they’re putting all the baseball stuff in print only. I wish they had packaged it to (potential) readers like that, like “get our reporters’ takes on the latest in Giants and A’s news only in the Sunday Print Chronicle.” Now that’s some actual “exclusive content” I can get behind.
