It Would Be Nice If the SF Chronicle Had a Business Section

I accidentally brushed today's SF Chron business section off of my desk, and it took several minutes to float to the ground.

The Bay Area has upwards of 7.2 million people. Of the whopping 6 pages in today's SF Chronicle Business Section (per the usual), two pages were the stock indices, half a page was ads, and there was approximately one page worth of wire service (AP) stories. I've only had a half-cup of coffee so far, but by my math that's about two-and-a-half pages of original business reporting by a major daily newspaper in a major metropolitan area.

Notably absent, in my humble opinion:

More reporting on start-ups -- with so many Silicon VC-funded start-ups operating out of San Francisco, where is the coverage? And I'm sorry, but don't point to the "Tech Chronicles." That doesn't even begin to do justice to the huge ecosystem of start-ups in SF.

More reporting on small business issues -- if "small businesses with fewer than ten employed firms make up 85 percent of city establishments," why so little reporting on small business issues, local tax laws and other items related to the ins and outs of running a small business?

More reporting on tourism business -- it's a huge part of the local economy, yet you rarely ever see any sort of reporting about the health of the tourism economy.

The paper is struggling (as are many others). I think a stronger presence / affinity with the local business community (and particularly the IT industry and the small business community) would open up some compelling revenue opportunities for the paper.