The San Francisco Chronicle will continue to distribute papers, despite the recent announcement that the newspaper may shutdown.

The Chronicle is having initial discussions with the union, but will continue the business as long as possible, said marketing director Michael Keith from The Chronicle.

The Hearst Corporation, owner of the newspaper, announced Tuesday that the newspaper will be going "critical cost-saving measures" in order to keep the newspaper afloat, despite it being read by more than 1.6 million people weekly.

Currently The Chronicle is the Bay Area's largest and oldest newspaper and its Web site, SFGate, is among the nation's 10 largest Web sites.

Steve Rubenstein, a reporter for The Chronicle and a former journalism lecturer at SF State, believes that the newspaper will stay around for "a long, long time."

"I can't imagine SF being without The Chronicle, and The Chronicle without SF," Rubenstein said.

Rubenstein was in the meeting yesterday that announced the situation, and says that it was "not an unexpected announcement" being that the fact that they have done cut backs and layoff for years.

According to The Chronicle, they lost more than $50 million last year.

"Given the losses the Chronicle continues to sustain, the time to implement these changes cannot be long," said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., vice chairman and chief executive office of the Hearst Corporation.

"These changes are designed to give the Chronicle the best possible chance to survive and continue to serve the people of the Bay Area with distinction, as it has since 1865," said Bennack.