Catching up on SF Chronicle news, I noticed this attack from CJR on the way the Chronicle itself let its readers in on the news that its parent Hearst Corp. was threatening to close the paper if it couldn’t get the cost cuts it said it needed.

The writer, David Cay Johnston, calls the Chron’s coverage of itself a rewritten press release, and that’s about what it is, though parts don’t even seem rewritten. Johnston:

Not one word makes it into the paper from Chronicle unions, whose contracts Hearst CEO Frank Bennack wants to “quickly” rewrite with “significant” concessions under threat of closing the newspaper.

Not one word from others with an interest in whether the Chronicle dies after 144 years—say, interviews with the mayor, city supervisors, major advertisers, political scientists, or perhaps just a few scattered longtime readers.

Not one word from, say, an authoritative voice on Bay Area journalism like Alan D. Mutter, or from the Chronicle’s most severe critic, Bruce B. Brugmann, owner of the Bay Guardian.

The story he’s talking about is here. It’s a good example of the manifestations of the type of journalistic indolence permeating the Chronicle I wrote about earlier this week. Writing about one’s own publication isn’t particularly easy or welcome, but it’s part of the job sometimes. You take a step back and try to craft the piece the same way you would about any other publication.

The Chron didn’t do that; there’s no byline on the story, and no skepticism. As Johnston says, there’s no outside voices, either.

The paper’s circulation isn’t given; instead, we get the industry trope of “readers.”

And not only that, but “weekly” readers. And the paper not only has 1.6 million of them, it has “more than” 1.6 million of them!

All of which sounds so much better than, say, “a daily circulation of less than 330,000.”

The editor of the Chronicle is Ward Bushee, who was until recently the editor of the Arizona Republic. Here’s a sense of that august journal’s approach to journalism.

It doesn’t look like this is a guy who’s going to guide the paper through this mess with its head up. That’s how permeating that virus is amongst the paper’s editors: It doesn’t even look like the SF Chronicle is going to be able to go out with dignity.