San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper

The San Francisco Chronicle has lured the Arizona Republic's top editor to take the same job at Northern California's largest daily newspaper. Ward H. Bushee, who has led the Republic editorial staff the last five years, will begin running the Chronicle's newsroom Feb. 1. Phil Bronstein, the Chronicle's editor for the last seven years, accepted a broader assignment as editor at large for the Chronicle and its owner, Hearst Corp.

A defense attorney in the BALCO steroid scandal has admitted that he revealed secret grand jury testimony from Major League Baseball players to two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, ending a constitutional standoff between federal prosecutors and the press, and eliminating the threat of prison for the journalists.

San Francisco Chronicle executives told employees Friday that they would cut the newsroom staff by one quarter as readers and advertisers continued to flee to the Internet. About 80 union members and 20 management employees will lose their jobs, reducing the Chronicle's editorial staff to about 300. The paper had an editorial staff of 570 in 2000. Unlike many big-city newspapers, which have continued to make solid profits despite new-media challenges, the Hearst Co.

Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative who served prison time on a steroid dealing conviction, has been identified as a source the San Francisco Chronicle used to report on the scandal, which included stories detailing the grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi.

Attorneys for two reporters, who face jail if they refuse to reveal who gave them secret testimony on the use of steroids by star athletes, argued Friday that hamstringing the press' ability to gather news would harm the public interest more than the leak did.

Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters were sentenced Thursday to up to 18 months in jail for refusing to reveal who gave them secret testimony on the use of steroids by baseball's Barry Bonds and other star athletes. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in San Francisco was immediately stayed, pending an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, enabling reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to remain free.

The San Francisco Chronicle agreed to be held in contempt of court and pay perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for refusing to assist a federal grand jury probing who leaked to its reporters the secret testimony of Barry Bonds and other athletes, according to a court filing. The government agreed to stay any fines pending the outcome of an appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

At a private reception at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 30, 2005, President Bush praised two newspaper reporters for their award-winning stories on steroid use in professional sports. "You've done a service," Bush twice told Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada of the San Francisco Chronicle.

A federal judge Tuesday temporarily blocked the consolidation of some of the San Francisco Chronicle's business operations with those of rival newspapers owned by MediaNews Group Inc. Denver-based MediaNews, which owns the Oakland Tribune and seven other Bay Area newspapers, acquired the Monterey County Herald, San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times from Sacramento-based McClatchy Co. this year. The complex $1-billion deal included $300 million in financing from Hearst Corp.