San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded on January 16, 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. It underwent a name change in 1868 and, for less than a year, was published as The Daily Morning Chronicle. Finally, on August 15, 1869, the newspaper was published under its current name and assumed a daily publication frequency starting with the September 9, 1872, issue.

The paper benefited from the growth of San Francisco and had the largest newspaper circulation on the West Coast of the United States by 1880. Like other newspapers, it experienced a rapid fall in circulation in the early 21st century and was ranked 18th nationally by circulation in the first quarter of 2021.

In 1994, the newspaper launched the SFGate website, with a soft launch in March and an official launch on November 3, 1994, including both content from the newspaper and other sources. "The Gate", as it was known at launch, was the first large market newspaper website in the world, co-founded by Allen Weiner and John Coate. It went on to staff up with its own columnists and reporters, and even won a Pulitzer Prize for Mark Fiore's political cartoons.

The paper is owned by the Hearst Corporation, which bought it from the de Young family in 2000. It is the only major daily paper covering the city and county of San Francisco. In 2013, the newspaper launched its own namesake website, SFChronicle.com, and began the separation of SFGate and the Chronicle brands, which today are two separately run entities.