Rachel Gordon, City Hall Reporter, Leaves Chronicle for City Hall

Rachel Gordon, City Hall Reporter, Leaves Chronicle for City Hall

By Joe Eskenazi Tue., Sep. 11 2012 at 4:35 PM

Time ran out for Rachel Gordon at the Chron

Rachel Gordon, a city hall reporter for more than 20 years with the Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle and, before that, the Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner, has left the building.

Gordon has left city hall reporting in favor of reporting to city hall. Starting later this month, she'll be the new communications director for the Department of Public Works. She noted that, rather than digging beneath the surface of city hall, she'll now work for the department that, literally, digs beneath the surface of city hall.

"It's a good job for my family," she explains. "And I'm leaving on a very high note at the Chronicle."

Gordon says this development came about quickly. She got her papers from the city yesterday, gave her two-week notice on the same day, and will leave today.

"I have loved this job. I couldn't find a better one," she says. "But, yeah, I am excited."

Gordon's former colleagues lauded her as one of the paper's most knowledgeable, respected, and tenacious reporters. "This is a real blow to readers of the Chronicle and Bay Area journalism," says Carl T. Hall, a former science writer for the paper who is now the executive officer of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. "She was a real asset to this troubled craft. She's been a terrific, hard-nosed reporter."

After a brief interview with SF Weekly, Gordon left to turn in her press pass to her erstwhile employer.

Follow us on Twitter at @TheSnitchSF and @SFWeekly

Tags:

Carl Hall, Carl T. Hall, Rachel Gordon, Rachel Gordon Chronicle, Rachel Gordon DPW

We Recommend

fdc1947

Ms. Gordon can now rake in the money and stop any investigative reporting. She was never a true journalist - always had an agenda - and now can wallow with the Department of Public Works.

She can now take her daily walk by the Ferry Building and report directly about all the pot holes, cracks, and other nonchalant issues - that she will have all the time and lack of ability to report.

Pathetic. We have no true investigative journalist left in San Francisco. We do have panderers, misfits, and folks that cannot make up their mind. Another one bites the dust.

SFWB

Have known of her work since she started as a cub reporter at the old 'Progress' paper out of the building on Evans Street .

She joins the ranks of many in the local media who have cashed in their chips to play with the house's money.

Don't look for Ms Gordon to take up a position of 'whistle blower' against City wrong doings (even though she will have better information than an outsider), that would take real guts, and she was never much for doing it, even when it was her job as a 'reporter'.

Quite the opposite, just wonder how many of her former colleagues at the Chronicle will be giving her 'heads up' to pass to City Hall, when a damaging story is in the works. Quid pro quo, for those looking to make the same leap to honorable City service.

The line not only blurred but f**king disappeared when Sir Willie Brown began to openly date with Phil Matier at KPIX, a courtship that blossomed into a full time column in the Chronicle. No pretense at even pulling back the sheets as the Chronicle continued a sham of objective reporting on the publics behalf.

HowardEpstein

She will be hard to replace.

citydweller

1 Like

She's done good work for the Chron for 20+ years. That deserves congratulations, especially with the changes the Chron has gone through. ""It's a good job for my family,' she explains." That deserves respect and not snark. Good luck Rachel.

Amused

PATHETIC. Way to cash in on a half-assed career and abandon any pretenses at objectivity. At least she's being honest now.

if(typeof(jQuery) == 'undefined'){ (function() { var ccm = document.createElement('script'); ccm.type = 'text/javascript'; /*ccm.async = true;*/ ccm.src = 'https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ccm, s); if (ccm.readyState) { ccm.onreadystatechange = function() { if (ccm.readyState == "loaded" || ccm.readyState == "complete") { ccm.onreadystatechange = null; ccm_e_init(1); } }; } else { ccm.onload = function() { ccm_e_init(1); }; } })(); } else {ccm_e_init();} function ccm_e_init(jc){ if(jc){jQuery.noConflict();} jQuery(function(){ var http=location.href.indexOf('https://') >-1 ? 'https': 'http'; var ccm = document.createElement('script'); ccm.type = 'text/javascript'; ccm.async = true; ccm.src = http+'://d1nfmblh2wz0fd.cloudfront.net/items/loaders/loader_1063.js?aoi=1311798366&pid=1063&zoneid=15220&cid=&rid=&ccid=&ip='; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ccm, s); jQuery('#cblocker').remove(); }); };

voltairesmistress

I found Ms. Gordon's city hall reporting lacking in any sort of journalistic curiosity. She seemed to prefer taking the administration's public relations statements at face value to providing readers with background information that would lead us to question official policy. All in all, Gordon's taking an official job in public relations with the City is long overdue.

CJRoses

@voltairesmistress Yes, exactly. I am sure Ms. Gordon is a swell person but to call her a "journalist" is a real stretch. She has been regurgitating City Hall talking press releases for 10 plus years without a hint of journalistic curiousity. So she finally learned how overcompensated City employees are in the course of her work and instead of informing her readers, she just took a job there. Wow.