San Francisco Bay Guardian Shuts Down

Alternative weekly had been around for almost 50 years.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian weekly newspaper, a leading progressive voice in the city for 48 years, is closing for financial reasons, its publisher said Tuesday.

"It is the hardest decision I've had to make in my 20-year newspaper career," said Publisher Glenn Zuehls of the San Francisco Media Co., which has operated the alternative paper since 2012 and also runs the San Francisco Examiner and the SF Weekly.

"San Francisco — and the world — was a very different place when the Bay Guardian began publishing in 1966," Zuehls said in a statement. "Many of the causes the paper championed over the decades have shifted and evolved. The political and social climate of the city, in part as a result of the paper's coverage, has become more open, transparent and inclusive. The Bay Guardian leaves a legacy as a forceful advocate for social change that will always be a source of pride for everyone who was part of it or who valued its voice in our community."