SF Weekly


SF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Thursday, is published by the San Francisco Newspaper Company. Founded locally in the late 1970s by Christopher Hildreth and Edward Bachman and originally named ‘San Francisco Music Calendar, the Magazine or Poster Art’, Christopher saw a need for local artists to have a place to advertise performances and articles. The key feature was the centerfold calendar listings for local art events. Bought by Village Voice Media in 1995, SF Weekly has garnered notable national journalism awards. The paper sponsored the SF Weekly Music Awards, also known as the "Wammies."
In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed Voice Media Group. Four months later, SF Weekly was sold to The San Francisco Media Company, owners of The San Francisco Examiner and long-time rivals San Francisco Bay Guardian, giving the publishers control of three of the four major English-language newspapers in San Francisco. In 2014, San Francisco Media Co. became fully owned by Black Press.

Sections

Armenian Genocide

With an October 30, 2007 Op-Ed blog entitled "SF's Needs to Kill Its Armenian Genocide Resolution", Benjamin Wachs stirred controversy due to remarks deemed to be extremely offensive by descendants of survivors of the genocide by pondering what gift would most appropriate for his girlfriend to celebrate Armenian Genocide Day. The Weekly's former web editor David Downs responded by musing "If there was a genocide, then why is there so many left of you around to bitch?"

Ethics

The SF Weekly was the subject of ethical controversy in Jan., 2006, when a column about the AVN porn awards misidentified the event's location and honorees. The paper's editor had apparently altered a column about a different event from years before.

''Bay Guardian Company, Inc. v SF Weekly, et al.''

The San Francisco Bay Guardian, another free alternative weekly newspaper distributed every Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area, sued SF Weekly in civil court, alleging that it tried to put the Bay Guardian out of business by selling ads below cost. The Guardian won the suit in March, 2008, and was granted a $6.2 million in damages, a figure that swelled to $21 million with antitrust penalties and interest by June 2010. After the verdict, the Guardian obtained court orders allowing it to seize and sell the Weekly′s two delivery trucks and collect half of the Weekly′s ad revenue.

Headquarters

SF Weekly is on Market Street Previous locations included: Suite 710 225 Bush Street, 55 Francisco Street, Suite 3800 of 185 Berry Street, and 425 Brannan Street.

Awards

;California News Publishers Association
;* 2018: Writing, 1st place, The Biggest Loss in Paradise: Its Elders, Nuala Sawyer, SF Weekly
;Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
;National Society of Newspaper Columnists