After almost a decade in Union Square, local lifestyle magazine 7x7 will pack up their staplers and Post-Its and move to SOMA—glorious, rad, joyous, dirty, homelessy, wealthy South of Market. The publication(s) will move into the old Chronicle Books spot at 680 Second Street, right next door to Ironside (home of the city's best Cuban sandwich.) But why the move? SFist asked Chloé Harris, 7x7's sparkling new executive editor, for more details. more ›

SF Appeal breaks news that SF Examiner will be sold to a Canadian Newspaper company Black Press Group. According to a statement later released by the company, the sale expected to close on November 30, 2011. more ›

The tony overlords at 7x7 Magazine named Stylebistro editor (and, above all else, former SFist style editor) Chloe Harris their new executive editor. In addition to having worked within the fashion media realm for years now, she's also a staunch advocate of marriage equality with her partner, food photographer Frankie Frankeny. (Check out JustMarried for more details.) more ›

In some heart-sinking news today, SF Weekly cut some of its staff -- possibly 1/3 of it, according to the grapevine. Most notably, the Village Voice Media paper pruned such stellar talent as web editor Jake Swearingen, reporter Matt Smith, calendar editor Hiya Swanhuyser, and SFoodie's W. Blake Gray. more ›

Featuring new fiction from Stuart Dybek, as well as Emily Ruskovich and May-Lan Tan making their literary debuts, the summer issue of Zoetrope features a cover designed by Beck. Yes, that Beck. You should help Francis Ford Coppola celebrate the release of one of the city's best (and most underrated!) literary magazines at Cafe Zoetrope in North Beach on Tuesday, July 19 from 6 to 8 pm. There’ll be cocktails flowing, passed plates of light bites, and presumably groovy music. more ›

The man who shot and killed himself outside the SFPD Mission Station on Valencia Street was identified today as Eric Swenson, a 64-year-old San Francisco resident who was also the co-founder of popular skateboarding magazine Thrasher. An announcement on the magazine's website had this to say: more ›

An elderly man in Vacaville was injured by an explosive device hidden in his Sunday newspaper yesterday. When the man went to retrieve the paper from his lawn the hidden device exploded, alerting neighbors who found him "bloodied and lying on the lawn in front of his house," according to KGO-TV. The injured man was airlifted to the hospital in Davis while police evacuated the quiet-looking suburban neighborhood and cautioned others against picking up their own Sunday papers. No other explosives were found nearby. more ›

SF Weekly Publisher (and an all-around swell chap) Josh Fromson will leave the city's noted alt-weekly to take over at The NY Village Voice. Both SF Weekly and The Village Voice are owned by the same parent company, Village Voice Media. more ›

Back before print publishing turned into a creepy fetish for navel-gazing journalists looking to emulate their leader, there was a time when people used to purchase and then have delivered their e-information in inconvenient newspaper form. For reals! And many of us would deliver these oldfangled newspapers for money via a daily or weekly bike route. Renowned pop culture critic Peter Hartlaub, who we thoroughly enjoy, recently went on his old Chronicle paper route in Burlingame using his old hand-me-down girl's bike (holy hickory bold, just like us!) and filmed the entire thing more ›

Anti-gay marriage and hateful citizens, unite! A fake Rolling Stone based in Africa has been dishing out "one of the most vile and hateful anti-gay screeds," ever! And the real Rolling Stone, which got its start here in San Francisco, is none too thrilled. more ›

Things sure have changed since the Hartle era at la-di-da 7x7 Magazine came to an end. For example, it's now less la-di-da. And we like that. Another example? This month the local mag boasts Vernon Davis, a brawny, black footballer player, sans shirt on its cover. We like that, too. ("During his sophomore year at the University of Maryland, he changed majors from criminal justice to studio arts, his passion," they point out. "'Once I got into college, I felt free...It didn’t matter what anyone had to say about me.'" We hear you, Vernoin. We hear you loud and clear.) more ›

Although SF Zine Fest is all about tables and tables of choice zines, comics, phenomenal DIY doodads, and more -- psst, be sure to read Laura Beck's article on making her very first zine -- it's also a great opportunity to learn from a bevvy of successful independent publishers and local scribes. This year's workshop and panel roster promises to have something for every zine geek, and then some. Behold. more ›

The lineup for this year's Litquake, San Francisco's tribute to the written word, looks like a smashing one. Why? Because it vboasts a special appearance by a very special cinematic legend and infamous felons. Of course, we're talking about Winona Ryder. The actress and sometimes San Francisco resident will appear as part of a tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Bookseller. Sure, other stellar names will also help out (guitarist Lenny Kaye, Michael McClure, New Yorker cartoonist Eric Drooker, Ishmael Reed, former San Francisco Poet Luareates Jack Hirschman and devorah major, the rad Beth Lisick, Michelle Tea, and the Marcus Shelby Quart), but we are saving our pennies and holding our breath for Ryder. more ›

Looks like the folks at SF Bay Guardian can expect payment from SF Weekly -- at least so declares the state appeals court. According to KRON 4, "In a 3-0 ruling on Wednesday, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said there was convincing evidence that the Bay Guardian, an alternative weekly, had suffered damages because of SF Weekly's 'predatory pricing scheme.'" In 2008, if you recall, a San Francisco Superior Court jury awarded the alt-weekly a $21 million damage award. "Bruce Brugmann, editor and publisher of the Bay Guardian, says the two newspapers are in settlement talks." more ›

SF Appeal breaks the news that James Pimentel, executive editor of the SF Examiner, resigned last Friday. Staffers confirm that "several factors" led to his sudden departure. more ›

Exhausted with having to read your news online? From the convenience of your home or office? For free? Well, fret no more. Today, local online news site SF Public Press launched a papyrus version of the publication, featuring some of their computerized content. more ›

Viz Media, one of the biggest publishers of creepy manga in the U.S., pruned some of its staff on Wednesday. Publishers Weekly reports that "as many as 55 people were laid off at Viz’s San Francisco headquarters and it appears its small New York office, which had about 5 staffers, has been closed. The number of staff released represents about 40% of the employees at Viz Media." Why? Well, one reason, according to figures, was a decline in sales by 20% in 2009. [via PW] more ›

Dark news here, folks. A sick Placerville man, according to Associated Press, "delivered his own obituary to a newspaper then hanged himself from a nearby bridge." The body of Allan Leo Peters II, 64, was found Wednesday dangling from "a yellow rope from an old bridge." Struggling with emphysema, Peters had delivered his obit to Mountain Democrat prior to hanging himself -- a brief excerpt reading,"Yes, I have hanged myself (At least I hope I did)" -- paying the $90 publishing cost. more ›

While we know the luminous, chiseled Sergey Brin would never say something so cruel about bloggers, Google CEO and aging Burner Eric Schmidt, while trying to ingratiate himself to the book-sniffing crowd at a American Society of News Editors gala, sure did. Speaking to a worried gaggle of editors in Washington D.C. last night., according to the Nieman Journalism Lab (via Valleywag), Schmidt told them: more ›

Mommy and daddy, we wish you'd stop fighting. Is it because we're bad? Do you hate us? We promise to be good if you stop hating each other. Because when we read this: more ›

On Tuesday, San Francisco court commissioner granted SF Bay Guardian "half of SF Weekly’s current and future advertising revenue "in a move that could seriously damage the Weekly’s ability to stay in business," reports former New Times Media alt-weekly East Bay Express. more ›

Look for local glossy 7x7 to receive a fresh new tone and feel. Maybe. Because the two top leaders there are gone. Todd Sotkiewicz is now the magazine's president, replacing Tom Hartle. Sotkiewicz comes from such esteemed media as Lonely Planet and Wired. more ›

Here's a morsel of alt weekly-vs.-alt weekly news to fill your belly: last Tuesday local alt weekly SF Bay Guardian was "granted its motion to intercept the income of the SF Weekly." The Weekly, if you recall, were branded as a bunch of predatory pricing hooligans against the Guardian in 2008, with the latter publication receiving a $21 million settlement. more ›

Under the impression that online internet world wide webloggers are swiping their golden nuggets of wisdom without linkage, SFGate recently infused their site with inane cross-scripting nonsense that automatically adds a url link when you copy/paste any of the Gate's content. Basically, it's like a teddy bear cam for writers who use their site. It is, for lack of a better word, retarded. more ›

A "polarizing" figure in the SF food community, Meredith Brody was a memorable one during her tenure at SF Weekly. Yesterday, Eater tell us, Brody parted ways with SF Weekly. more ›

Pompous Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson is, for lack of a better word, dim. And old. Case in point, he was, for some inexplicable reason, asked to speak at Web Summit 2.0 in San Francisco this week. During a panel discussion with Google executive Marissa Mayer, he accused her of "unintentionally encourag[ing] promiscuity." (Odds are he never would have said the same thing to Sergey Brin.) more ›

After 70 years in print, Gourmet magazine will call its November issue its final one. While rags like Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country (oh, come on, the latter is nothing short of genius; in fact, the bizarre cakes featured on the inside back covers are getting framed and tastefully displayed in our kitchen this week!) have turned our attention away from the Conde Naste magazine devoted to gastronomical delights and travel writing, it is/was an institution. Alas. Eater has more on the publication's depressing demise. more ›

Here's some days-old news for you to chew on, folks. In a move that has some editors at The Chronicle defecating in their hermetically-sealed bubble, both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times plan on printing special San Francisco editions. (Brittle wit and over-labored angles, anyone?) In a strategy to win over fresh readers and advertisers, both publications are looking "to capitalize on the contraction of regional papers." And where better to start than in San Francisco, home to alleged progressiveness and people who don't own televisions. “'It's a highly educated, internationally minded audience, and our research out there shows there’s a market need for a quality news product,'” said Paul Bascobert, chief marketing officer of Dow Jones Consumer Media Group, the unit of the News Corporation that includes The Wall Street Journal, who plan on released SF editions in November or December of this year. Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at the Poynter Institute, said, “I think the San Francisco area is the most obvious market to try this in, because it’s big, it’s sophisticated and it’s getting progressively more poorly served by its papers.” Oh snap. NYT, however, would not comment on plans for a scheduled SF release. more ›

While news of another batch of layoffs at the Chronicle isn't particularly newsworthy in this economy, the California Media Workers Guild posted the following missive yesterday. more ›

Sad news, handful of you. The Printed Blog, the newspaper (leaflet?) that plucked items from the world wide web and printed said posts on paper, is now dead. Founded by Josh Karp six months ago, the idea of this interesting yet bizarre publication, as TechCrunch's John Biggs put it, was "akin to pressing MP3 podcasts onto vinyl for those who still used a Technics turntable." But, due to lack of investor and reader interest, the blog that you could find at a newsstand is no more. If you'd like to check out the Printed Blog on your personal computer device, you can "download" issues of it here.
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