Mission Local’s readership numbers skyrocketed this year, a year in which the value of local news became self-evident. It began with an explosive City Hall corruption probe, became engulfed by a world-altering health pandemic, and was shaken up further as thousands took to the streets following the police killing of George Floyd.
To think: It still isn’t over.
Any journalist in the digital age will speak of their love-hate relationship with “traffic” or “the numbers” — the tally of people who read a particular story. While it may be gratifying to know tens of thousands of people read an article, the numbers are not the end-all be-all indicator of a story’s quality. They certainly don’t pay the bills. Often, they are mystifyingly fickle creatures that will show up in droves for a puppy-dog post but snub the All-Important Story.
Luckly, Mission Local did not have that problem this year. Our unique visitors doubled from last year to 2.9 million, and page views doubled to 7.2 million. And all of the 10 most-read stories were examples of the creativity and grit of a small newsroom — of solid local reporting.
We would be thrilled for you to read these stories, if you haven’t already. And if you have, thank you! And enjoy them again:
1 . COVID-19: ‘The Atlantic’ article about San Francisco is a fable. Here’s what’s really happening. —Joe Eskenazi
2. Love in the Time of Covid-19: ‘Not having sex is definitely frustrating’ —Julian Mark
3. SF mayor calls for calm — panic at grocery stores and pot dispensaries ensues —Julian Mark and Lydia Chavez
4. COVID-19: A sneak peek at the horrifying economic projections for San Francisco (updated with the full report) —Joe Eskenazi
5. Nurses demand sheriffs’ discharge from San Francisco General Hospital —Annika Hom
6. Borderlands Books owner publicly accused of sexual assault by daughter, domestic violence by ex-girlfriend —Julian Mark
7. Ninety-five percent of businesses can reopen on Monday, as retail allowed to resume with curbside pickup and delivery —Julian Mark and Joe Eskenazi
8. Trove of text messages reveals Mayor London Breed ordered homeless sweeps directly – despite frequent denials —Julian Mark
9. Pelosi challenger Shahid Buttar accused of sexual harassment, misogyny —Joe Eskenazi
10. Some 10,000 protesters march through San Francisco in George Floyd demonstration —Julian Mark, Michael Toren, Natalia Gurevich and Lydia Chávez
