The San Francisco Standard has seated Charter CEO Kevin Delaney as its new editor-in-chief after acquiring the aforementioned publication this month.
The San Francisco Standard has had a particularly busy few months. Between enacting a subscription model under it’s for-profit business model and publishing a recent opinion waxing supportive of District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio — who was endorsed by Together SF, the rebranded big money PAC The Standard’s founder, Micharl Moritiz, previously funded — the publication’s true colores continue spilling out like an iridescent oil slick.
On Monday, June 30th, The Standard announced it acquired Charter, a publication dedicated to the “future of work” and the evolving tech space, in a bid to expand its “coverage of tech, business, and the evolving workplace.”
“If you’re a Standard fan, you can expect deeper coverage of tech, business, and the evolving workplace — including more reporting on AI’s impact on jobs, leadership trends, startup culture, and tech policy — seen through a distinctly San Francisco lens,” The Standard shared in a recent article highlighting the acquisition. “Over time, you’ll see new features and sections devoted to workplace coverage, presented in the reader-first, fun, and accessible style you expect from us.” For readers of Charter, they can expect the same level of reporting and an unchanged publication-specific newsletter being sent out … though it will now include resources and articles published by The Standard.
With the merger, The Standard announced a new editor-in-chief will oversee the editorial direction of the publication; Charter CEO Kevin Delaney, who resides in Brookyln per his LinkedIn profile, will now operate as The San Francisco Standard’s editor-in-chief; The Standard reports it will also absorb Charter’s “full team” as part of the acquisition.
For those of you who’ve been keeping tabs on local media, Delaney will be The Standard’s third editor-in-chief since the publication launched in 2021 initially as Here/Say Media.
The publication’s former editor-in-chief, Julie Makinen, was placed in the position after Jonathan Weber resigned after speculation that he and The Standard’s CEO, Griffin Gaffney, butted heads on publication’s editoiral direction. Makniken replaced Weber in March of 2023, a little over a year after Weber came onboard at The Standard’s first editor-in-chief; since Makinen’s resignation, which was amicable and had to do with her mother’s failing health, the publicaton’s executive and managing editors Jon Steinberg and Jeff Bercovici, respectively, have filled the void left.
In the announcement, The Standard thanked its readership (tailed with a presumed and awkwardly placed call-to-action) — ”thank you for following and sharing this news and for being part of The Standard’s journey” — and, instead of referring to itself as a publication, chose to identify as a “company.” That, in and of itself, is worth a raised eyebrow.
Feature image: Courtesy of The Stan Francisco Standard
