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Joe Garofol, San Francisco Chronicle

When the Bay Guardian abruptly stopped publishing on Tuesday, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano likened the closure to a death in the family that the citys progressives would need time to mourn.

But the 48-year-old newspaper had been on life support since founders and spouses Bruce Brugmann and Jean Dibble sold it to the San Francisco Media Co. in 2012. Like at just about every other print outlet around the country, revenue had fallen and staff had been laid off.

Rich DeLeon, a retired professor of political science at San Francisco State University and a historian of the citys left, said the progressive movement has lost its ideological super ego. He said the Guardians demise is sad. But it is kind of like your great-grandfather dying at 95. It led a good life and it was extremely influential at some point.

David Latterman, a University of San Francisco political analyst, said the papers closure was inevitable, not only because of its failing business model, but also because of the continuing loss of its highly partisan readership.

It had an impact 10 years ago, but at best its support could affect 10 percent of the vote, he said. More recently, its probably about 3 percent.

The sale of the paper also robbed it of its image as the plucky underdog, with the new corporate ownership identity eclipsing Brugmanns founding promise to print the news and raise hell, said political consultant Eric Jaye.

Still, its loss has been keenly felt, especially among progressives who have lost their mouthpiece.

The biggest impact is that there wont be that 800-pound gorilla for the community to rally around, said Alex Clemens, a political consultant and founder of the Usual Suspects blog, an online aggregation of the citys political news from sources large and small.

But with any kind of information vacuum, it will open up opportunities for others to step into that leadership void, Clemens said, noting that there are dozens, if not hundreds of bloggers and online commentators in the city, and every neighborhood has some kind of news outlet.

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Progressives mourn demise of the Bay Guardian