The Press: After the Earthquake

In 1952, a city-room earthquake rocked the morning San Francisco Chronicle, and 38 staffers disappeared from view, including Boy Wonder Editor Paul Smith (TIME, Dec. 22, 1952). Before the shakeup, the Chronicle had a studious and often dull international bent, a slipping circulation of 155,205 (down 20,356 in five years), and an annual deficit of $1,000,000. Last week, edited as though the world began at San Francisco Bay and ended at the Golden Gate, the Chronicle was proudly—and accurately—calling itself the nation's fastest-growing major daily both in ads and circulation.

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