Massacre at San Francisco Chronicle

Frances Dinkelspiel, author of a forthcoming book on L.A. pioneer Isaias Hellman (her great grandfather), tallies up the toll of veteran Chronicle editors who are exiting. She writes:

You know times are bad when Executive Editor Phil Bronstein gives the boot to men and women who have been his colleagues for years – some all the way back to his early tenure at the Examiner. These cuts are so draconian and eliminate so many veteran journalists that one can’t help believe that the Chronicle will have a tough time putting out a quality product. And there are another 80 cuts of reporters yet to come!

This is bad, bad news for Bay Area journalism.

Left on the masthead are Bronstein and Deputy Editor Narda Zacchino, the former associate editor and reader's representative (as well as reporter and copy messenger) at the LAT. She also founded the annual Festival of Books held at UCLA.

Interesting: Dinkelspiel on reading and writing biographies.