Bay Guardian Raises Hell One Last Time

Inside the newly released Winter 2015 edition of the Public Press, you will find a publication that commemorates the storied 48-year history of one of America’s earliest and most important alternative weekly newspapers: The San Francisco Bay Guardian.

The day the San Francisco Media Co. killed the Bay Guardian in mid-October, we offered to print whatever the laid-off editorial staff wanted to give us to reflect on their situation as an eight-page insert in our fall edition — if they could get it to us in a week. Instead, they chose to take three months and put together a thoughtful retrospective that makes an eloquent and impassioned case for preserving a diversity of voices in local media.

The Guardian’s closure shocked the local journalism community as much as it did the progressive political constituency with whom the paper sided on so many efforts over 48 years. When the Chronicle was timid, the Guardian was fearless. When the Examiner was superficial, the Guardian dived into public records. And when SF Weekly was cynical, the Guardian oozed idealism. No publication in the city came closer to the journalist’s creed: Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

While the Public Press was not founded on the same business model and shies away from political advocacy, we share the aim of holding the powerful accountable. We hope the Guardian-in-Exile staff will find new and innovative ways to continue independent muckraking in San Francisco, a city that sure needs it.

You can pick up your own copy of the commemorative edition inside the print edition of the San Francisco Public Press at these retail locations, or online through the digital delivery service Gumroad.

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