Guardian-in-Exile

Many folks in Reno were devastated when our tourist guide to the City by the Bay, the Bay Guardian, was shuttered by San Francisco Media Co. The Guardian, which held national stature among progressive newsweeklies like the one you hold now, was purchased by SFMC in 2012, which owns the competing newspapers, San Francisco Examiner and the SF Weekly. While its October 2014 closure was abrupt, surprising staffmembers and the community it served, truth be told, it's not entirely unusual for corporations to purchase competition with the sole purpose of killing it.

The Bay Guardian was founded in 1966 by Bruce Brugmann and Jean Dibble, and it was known for its antipathy toward Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and the developers who gentrified San Francisco's downtown area and pushed the poor and middle class out.

Former staff members have published a commemorative final print edition, a 24-page issue with the goal of getting in the last word regarding the closure. The Guardian-in-Exile Project will be distributed as an insert to San Francisco Public Press' Winter 2015 edition, available January 22 at bookstores and other outlets around San Francisco (see sfpublicpress.org/where-to-buy-the-newspaper for locations). An electronic edition of the Guardian Commemorative Edition is available for download at www.gumroad.com/guardianinexile.

Many of the most recognizable names from the venerable paper's past make an appearance in the final issue, including final Publisher Marke Bieschke and Editor Steven T. Jones and former News Editor Rebecca Bowe, founders Bruce Brugmann and Jean Dibble and longtime Executive Editor Tim Redmond.

This project is part of an ongoing effort to preserve and make publicly accessible the newspaper's hard-copy and electronic archives.