Wow, this is a shocker. The New York Times

reports that Hearst might close The San Francisco Chronicle, which is effectively the monopoly daily already in a major urban market. Hearst previously sold its venerable Examiner to a subsidized flunky so it could assume the more valuable morning position. (This is something like The Seattle Times renegotiating the JOA with the P-I to get morning distribution, which hastened the P-I’s demise, as Rick Anderson reports for us in this week’s cover story.) The Hearst press release says the company needs either massive cost savings (break the union?) or it will sell or close the Chronicle. (And these days, no one’s buying.) The release says the paper lost $50 million last year–and remember, that was before the ad-sales climate turned really sour. If the Chronicle were to follow the P-I to the grave (or move online), that would leave our sister publication SF Weekly in print, along with … anyone, hello, Bueller?