San Francisco Independent
[1] Marsha Fontes, a local historian, took the reins two decades later in 1979, covering its suburban residential area, institutions surrounding the public water reservoir of Lake Merced, in the southwest part of San Francisco, California.
[7] As the new editor and publisher, Fang almost immediately began ambitiously growing The Independent, expanding its printed appearance from a tabloid format into a standard broadsheet sized page preferred by more major newspapers and extending its circulation / distribution zone citywide in the following year of 1988.
[10] A decade later at the beginnings of the 21st century, in 2000, the Fang family then moved into national political media attention by purchasing the longtime Hearst Communications (media syndicate) flagship, the "San Francisco Examiner', one of the Bay Area region's two major daily papers (The Examiner originally owned by late-19th and early-20th centuries newspaper syndicate legendary mogul / titan William Randolph Hearst, 1863–1951) and so the Fangs became the first Asian American family to run a major daily newspaper in America.
[13] Among the issues championed by The Independent included saving Laguna Honda Hospital and re-building it into one of the largest skilled nursing facilities in the country.
[3] The Independent was a key player in the last chapter of the San Francisco's newspaper wars in the controversies in the competition ongoing between the longtime two remaining major daily papers Examiner and Chronicle' left-over from the original half-dozen daily publications that once competed for readers and attention, circulated and served during the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when reading was the main form of mass communication media, (before the competition of additional outlets of radio and television stations news departments starting in the late 1940s).
but by March 2001, The Independent had ceased delivering to homes on Saturdays, being distributed only at newsstands and as an insert into the newly acquired San Francisco Examiner according to its also widespread in the last three decades, with the new computer media with its internet website and online news source "SFGate".
[16] The Independent achieved this through the use of targeting editorial content in 12 different zones over its total circulation of 379,000 copies covering from San Francisco through Redwood City.
[24] Generally representing a non-establishment viewpoint, The Independent's editorial coverage became more ambitious and strident as the newspaper grew.
In the 1990s for example, The Independent began an "aggressive public awareness and voter education campaign with the goal of raising hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new state-of-the-art facility" for Laguna Honda Hospital.
With political consultant Jack Davis, Independent columnist Warren Hinckle, healthcare union leader Sal Roselli and Public Health Department Director Dr. Mitchell Katz, among others, the "Laguna Honda First" campaign resulted in a $400 million rebuild[14] of the institution as the only publicly funded long-term care facility of its kind in the U.S.
[25] Up to that point, the SF Examiner – and its publisher William Randolph Hearst III – had been the leading editorial voice in San Francisco politics.
[26] When Agnos was unseated by political newcomer and former police chief Frank Jordan, backed by The Independent, it also intensified the newspaper feud into open editorial warfare.
[27] The Independent also supported the crime prevention policies of then Supervisor Terence Hallinan in his successful campaign to become San Francisco District Attorney.
[29] As the first prominent Asian American publishers in the news industry, and as the first neighborhood publication to aggressively challenge San Francisco's entrenched establishment and longstanding major newspapers, the Fangs and The Independent were alternately scrutinized and underestimated.
The SF Examiner assigned three reporters to investigate James Fang, Ted's brother, who had been appointed as San Francisco's Director of Commerce and Trade by new Mayor Frank Jordan.
[49] Ted's father John Fang was a newspaper pioneer in his own right, serving as Editor and Publisher of the Young China Daily News which was started by modern China's founding father Sun Yat Sen.[12] In 1979, John also started AsianWeek, the national English language newspaper known as the "Voice for Asian America.
They supported Willie Brown as the first African American to serve as mayor of San Francisco and encouraged diversity among department heads including the first gay man to run the SF Department of Public Works and the first African American to serve as Fire Chief.
[citation needed] In 1991 Independent columnist Warren Hinckle wrote a booklet attacking then-mayor Art Agnos, which was published and distributed by the Fang family's printing company.
However, in 1999, the Coalition of San Francisco Neighborhoods and Harvey Milk Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Club both passed resolutions calling on the Independent to cease advocating for Brown and Hallinan and criticizing their opponents.
[55] The newspaper was also criticized by Chronicle columnists in 1996 for taking sides in a San Mateo County Board of Supervisors race, working to defeat incumbent Mary Griffin.
"[29] San Francisco Chronicle managing editor Daniel E. Rosenheim in 1995 rated The Independent staff young and hard-working commenting, "I find some of their coverage enlightening.
