Master List (sorta) of English-language Bay Area Media
I'm not starting my full time job for another couple weeks so that's why I have the time to do something like this
This list is meant to be a a somewhat-comprehensive picture of the landscape of Bay Area English-language media1. This post will be updated over time because I’m sure I haven’t included everything and the categories aren’t exact.2 I was motivated to do this because I want to know where to go to get information on the place I live. If you need to correct anything on this list or have a name of something I haven’t included, please let me know.
I’m not being picky about what gets on this list. If it is 1. Public (pay-wall is still public) 2. Includes information about the Bay, and 3. Is actively publishing, it’s on here. Some of the newer publications might not be written by people who self describe as journalists, but they’re still producing media about the Bay! Some have under 100 readers probably, some have millions. For time savings reasons I’ve decided not to include major TikTok/Instagram/YouTube accounts. That said, we live in a world where platforms dominate how people consume media, so maybe I’ll cave.
Some of the publications I’ve listed are part of the vast uncanny political soup that Naomi Klein digs into in her recent book. The “Twitter Files,” Lee Fang/Glenn Greenwald, anti-“wokeism”, crime-obsessed universe, if you will. I’ve included them because I find it very interesting that the Bay is a prominent geographic epicenter for this line of thinking. Not including because I endorse the writing; it would be an incomplete picture to leave them out. That also goes for anything that is run-of-the-mill right-wing.
Status (the macro organization of the list, the other categories are sub-categories)
Legacy: 10+ years publishing
Established: 4-9 years publishing
Upstart: 3-1 years publishing
Brand new: <1 year publishing
Beat
Local news
Local commentary
Arts + Culture
Science
Political organ
Investigations
Political Slant3
Right
Center-right
Center-left
Left
Form
Print
Digital (website)
Digital (newsletter)
Radio
Podcast
Broadcast
And then I’ll have a separate list of correspondents at major national outlets whose beat is Bay Area-focused. This will NOT include tech reporters unless a crucial part of those reporters’ writing is focusing on the place of the Bay itself.
Legacy Outlets
48 Hills
Independent, nonprofit SF digital newsroom
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (website)
ABC7/KGO
Bay Area ABC broadcast news affiliate
Local news; Arts + Culture
Center-right-wing
Digital (website), Broadcast
Berkeleyside/Oaklandside
Independent, nonprofit newsrooms for the East Bay. Technically Oaklandside only started in 2020 but the -side brand is now long-established
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture; Investigations
Center-left-wing
Digital (website)
Bohemian
North Bay weekly
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
The Bold Italic
SF-focused blog, has changed hands a couple times but hasn’t stopped publishing
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (website + newsletter)
Castro Valley Forum
Community newspaper for Castro Valley
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
(Too thin a pub to confidently ascribe a political slant imo)
Print
CBS/KPIX
Bay Area CBS broadcast news affiliate
Local news; Arts + Culture
Center-right-wing
Digital (website), Broadcast
East Bay Times
Alameda and Contra Costa Country broadsheet
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture; Investigations
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
East Bay Express
East Bay weekly
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
KALW
Bay Area NPR affiliate
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Radio, digital (website), podcasts
KQED
Bay Area NPR and PBS affiliate
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Radio, digital (website), podcasts, broadcast
KPFA
Berkeley community radio
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture; Political organ
Left-wing
Radio, podcast
KRON4
Bay Area CW broadcast news affiliate
Local news; Arts + Culture
Center-right-wing
Digital (website), Broadcast
Marin Independent Journal
Marin County broadsheet
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture; Investigations
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
The Mercury News
Bay Area broadsheet centered on San Jose
Local news/commentary, Arts + Culture; Investigations
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
Metro Silicon Valley
South Bay weekly
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
Mission Local
Hyper-local news out of SF with rigorous reporting
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (website)
NBC Bay Area
Bay Area NBC broadcast news affiliate
Local news; Arts + Culture
Center-right-wing
Digital (website), Broadcast
Pacific Sun
Marin County historic alt-weekly
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
Palo Alto Daily Post
Palo Alto daily
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-right-wing
Print, digital (website)
Palo Alto Weekly/Online
Online location of former Palo Alto weekly paper, which stopped publishing in 2020. Now digital-only publication for Palo Alto area
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (website)
San Francisco Business Times
Bay Area business news focused on SF
Local news/commentary
Center-right-wing
Print, digital (website)
San Francisco Chronicle
Most prestigious Bay Area broadsheet
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture; Investigations
Center-right-wing
Print, digital (website + newsletters), podcast
San Francisco Public Press
Nonprofit, noncommercial SF-oriented news room
Local news/commentary; Arts + culture; Investigations
Center-left-wing
Digital (website), radio
SF Examiner
Former broadsheet major player, now a shell of its old self
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Print, digital (website)
SFGate
Most resourced digital-only publication in the Bay, formerly digital home for SF Chronicle
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (website)
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Bay Area business news focused on South Bay/Silicon Valley
Local news/commentary
Center-right-wing
Print, digital (website)
Established Outlets
East Bay Yesterday
Deep dives into East Bay history
Local commentary'; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Podcast
Eater
Bay Area edition of national restaurant industry news site; mostly focused on SF but includes lots of regional coverage
Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (website)
Hoodline
Bay area edition of national hyper-local news website
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-right-wing
Digital (website)
Oakland Geology
Local science writer’s long-standing blog about the earth underneath Oakland
Science
Too specific to gauge the politics
Digital (website, newsletter)
SFist4
Post-2019 iteration of the SF arm of Gothamist that ran until 2017
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (website)
Upstart Outlets
Blackbird Spyplane
Technically not focused that much on the Bay but the beloved newsletter is published in Oakland and occasionally features an East Bay or SF shoutout
Arts + culture
Left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
California Red
CA DSA newsletter with political coverage of the Bay
Local news/commentary; Political organ
Left-wing
Digital (website + newsletter)
Kibitzing with Lincoln
SF history, politics, and commentary from pundit Lincoln Mitchell
Local news/commentary
Center-left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Gotham by Susan Dyer Reynolds
Right-wing crime and police reporting of SF
Local news/commentary; Political organ
Right-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Public
Right-wing political reporting with lots of Bay Area-focused stories. 3 of the 4 writers live in the Bay Area.
Local news/commentary; Political organ
Right-wing
Digital (newsletter)
San Francisco Standard
VC-funded Bay Area news, mostly focused on SF
Local news/commentary; Arts + Culture
Center-right-wing
Digital (website)
Variable West
West-coast focused art reviews with Bay Area coverage
Arts + Culture
Left-wing
Digital (website + newsletter)
Brand New Outlets
1,017 Acres
Regular musings on Golden Gate Park
Arts + culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Art Heaux
SF art and food commentary
Arts + culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Gumball
Weekly SF events roundup
Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Oakland Garden Club
Oakland botanical history + commentary from KQED’s Alexis Madrigal
Arts + Culture; Local commentary
Center-left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Oakland Report
Pro-policing long-form Oakland crime reporting5
Local news/commentary; Investigations; Political organ6
Right-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Same Page SF
Literary news and events in the Bay
Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Screen Slate SF Bay
Bay Area edition of NYC-based arthouse movie listings/writing
Arts + Culture
Center-left-wing
Digital (newsletter)
Correspondents at major outlets
Anna Wiener
New Yorker contributor who covers technology and startup culture in SF/Silicon Valley
Claudia Cowan
Fox News SF Correspondent
Heather Knight
NYTimes Bay Area Bureau Chief
Jay Caspian Kang
New Yorker staff writer who often covers the Bay
Michael Gennaro, Natalie Hanson, Nicholas Iovino
Courthouse News Service reporters who cover the Bay
Nathan Heller
New Yorker contributor who often covers the Bay
I don’t have the knowledge to properly analyze the landscape inclusive of Hispanic/Chinese etc publications!
Alternate tagline for this newsletter: “I’m Not Getting Paid To Do This, So Vibes Are Doing A Lot Of Work That Rigor Could Do Better”
I’m differentiating between center-left and center-right based mostly on the trends in opinion-type pieces. If there are no op-eds or other explicitly biased articles, I’m basing it more on whether there’s a ton of crime reporting (makes it center-right imo). Right- and left-wing reserved for explicitly political publications.
I’m biased towards the -ist era that I was a part of (pre Joe Ricketts’ anti-union 2017 shutdown of the company) but cheers to the outlet’s newer iteration!
I’m desperate for a long investigation into Neighbors Together Oakland. Seems simultaneously astro-turfed and grassroots. They have a cohort of people on Twitter and now some newsletters too. Boots Riley did some independent investigating and they’re funded by a house alarm magnate. For awhile over the summer their signs were all over Rockridge, around the same time the Rockridge News published an article advocating for private security in the area using the “we keep us safe” language popularized by defund the police movements.
They are also AVID users of AI art for their posts. Shocking stuff.