SAN FRANCISCO – After 16 years and 700 issues under its current publisher, the San Francisco Bay View printed its last issue in July. The biweekly, a political newspaper covering the African-American community, has weathered many storms, said publisher Mary Ratcliff, but nothing as bad as the foreclosure crisis.
The newspaper received a good chunk of its revenue from ads – mostly from national advertisers and local hospitals groups, nonprofits and city government agencies, rather than from small businesses – but the amount didn’t cover its expenses. The couple refinanced their home loan to get enough cash flow to keep the newspaper afloat. The scheme worked during the real estate bubble, but was disastrous amid the subprime loan crisis.
“We lost [our] property in a foreclosure auction a week ago yesterday,” Ratcliff said. She and her husband lived in a multi-unit building and also rented out three storefronts, which allowed them to make the monthly payments on the loan.
As a last resort, Ratcliff said they may move to Texas. “My husband has property from his parents…it has timber and ranch land…he doesn’t want to go [to Texas]. He wants to stay in San Francisco and so do I,” she said.
For now, she’s publishing stories on the San Francisco Bay View’s Web site.
In Southern California, the KoreAm Journal, a monthly magazine covering the Korean-American experience for 18 years, recently published an open letter to readers pleading for new subscribers and donations to keep the magazine afloat. They’ve lost about a third of their advertising.
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