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San Francisco is a dystopian hellscape overrun by armed criminals and fentanyl addicts, its streets teeming with human waste, its buildings crumbling before our eyes.

Thats the situation according to recent stories in major media outlets from CNN to Good Morning America, from the Financial Times to Newsweek, along with legions of posters on TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and perennial S.F. haters like Fox News, the New York Post and, of course, Elon Musk. Presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also chimed in last week.

Theyre making up stuff, said Rodney Fong, CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. It is absolutely unfair.

Civic and business leaders, as well as marketing experts, readily acknowledge that San Francisco faces major social problems amid a sluggish pandemic recovery. But the overwrought narrative that the city is in zombie apocalypse territory can only hurt it, they say.

It is misrepresenting the city badly, said longtime press agent Lee Housekeeper. I get calls every day from people I know across the country, especially after Good Morning America, asking me, Are you OK? Are you in danger?

In GMAs segment about Westfield giving up its namesake mall, a correspondent broadcasting live said it was simply too dangerous for him to be in Union Square or outside the mall at that hour, although, in fact, he was standing on a city sidewalk in the predawn darkness.

The skewed stories can have some real-life consequences.

Its definitely making prospective tenants think, said Kazuko Morgan, vice chair of real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. The due diligence is taking longer than ever before. This whole thing is just so blown out of proportion. They make it seem like its Armageddon.

Of course, its also encouraging some opportunistic buyers of commercial real estate, who see this as a chance to get good deals, Morgan said.

Negative news makes potential tenants unfamiliar with the market somewhat jittery about San Francisco, said Karin Flood, president of the Flood Building, the 1904 edifice at the foot of Powell Street, which formerly housed the Gaps flagship store. Its really disheartening to read so many negative articles. Enough is enough.

Stephen Kraus, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of San Francisco, said the downbeat stories may be scaring away some tourists, but they dont discourage people who want to move here, such as the graduate students he teaches.

For people like that, San Francisco is as attractive as ever, he said. A lot of young people from all over the country, all over the world, still want to come to San Francisco, between the physical beauty, all of the job opportunities. Rumors of San Franciscos death are greatly exaggerated.

Some stories cherry-pick information.

The fatal stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee in April ignited waves of breathless reports that lawlessness by unhoused people was soaring due to woke politics. And yet very few national outlets focused on the follow-up that the alleged perpetrator turned out to be a fellow tech entrepreneur.

However, data show that San Francisco actually has one of the lowest homicide rates of U.S. cities, while violent crime fell during the pandemic, a Chronicle analysis found. Still, polls show that San Franciscans feel crime is on the rise a perception that could be fueled by the drumbeat of negativity.

When you get news article after news article, it starts to make people scared, said Marisa Rodriguez, executive director of the Union Square Alliance, which works to enhance that central shopping district. Anyone thinking about: Is my next destination going to be a place I'm reading so many negative stories about, will probably think twice, and thats not OK. If you were going to open a business, sign a lease, but keep getting a barrage of negative news stories about the area, would you have cold feet or second thoughts? Of course, thats human nature.

She and others rue that little attention is paid to news about improvements: the money and energy the city is investing to address issues of crime, homelessness and other issues, the efforts to re-energize its streets.

Those stories arent being told. I havent seen this kind of energy (for revitalizing San Francisco) in a long time and its really hopeful, Rodriguez said.

Sriram Sundararajan, an adjunct lecturer of marketing at Santa Clara University, said city leaders should rally to counteract the gloom and doom and enlist residents as brand ambassadors.

This is the perfect opportunity for San Francisco to reframe itself and help build a narrative around safety and stability, he said.

San Francisco, like California, has always had a boom-and-bust trajectory.

It absolutely will turn around; hard times always create some innovation, said Kraus, from USF.

Rodriguez echoed that: San Francisco is known to come back and always stronger, she said.

City boosters hope that pendulum swing could inspire a new round of reports this time upbeat.

There will be a time when people will be equally as interested in San Francisco comeback stories, Housekeeper said. I will be leading the charge there.

In recent months theres been considerable national dialogue about San Franciscos purported demise. Here are ten of the most notable stories and viral social media moments about the citys perceived or potential doom.

With the 2022 recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin as its peg, one-time Chronicle writer Nellie Bowles called San Francisco a cruel city in a mammoth, almost 8,000-word essay for The Atlantic magazine. Bowles wrote that it will take more than a couple of recall votes to save San Francisco from a pandemic-initiated decline characterized by boarded-up stores, a ghostly downtown and a housing crisis.

On CNNs The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, reporter Sarah Sidner listed headlines that describe San Francisco as decaying, a crime-ridden hell hole, and a failed city. In an interview, former Chronicle columnist Phil Matier said, You put homelessness, mentally ill and fentanyl together and its worse than the third world.

While broadcasting live about Westfield announcing its decision to give up its namesake mall in downtown San Francisco, Good Morning America chief national correspondent Matt Guttman said he was unable to report from Union Square or Westfield Mall early in the morning because its simply too dangerous. Guttman said the city could turn into a so-called zombie city and that its downtown is following a trend of decay caused by the fentanyl epidemic, pervasive homelessness and fleeing retailers.

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'They're making up stuff': How the narrative of S.F. as dystopian ... - San Francisco Chronicle