Two years (nearly) in the life of the Mercury News
April 27, 2006: Ridder: Singleton will be a very good steward of the Merc
“While McClatchy may be buying Knight Ridder, we’re getting the flagship and the crown jewel of Knight Ridder,” Dean Singleton told the San Jose Mercury News staff Wednesday. He appeared with KR CEO Tony Ridder, who called Singleton a man who “loves newspapers” and who will be “a very good steward of the Mercury News.”
May 22, 2006: Question: Who Is MediaNews’s Dean Singleton?
Indeed, Mr. Singleton intends to make a showcase of The San Jose Mercury News, in the heart of Silicon Valley, as a kind of laboratory for how to meld print with the Web. He is so excited about the prospects that he plans to buy a home in the Bay Area, while keeping his primary residence in Denver.
Mr. Singleton said he had no plans to reduce the staff, change the guard or consolidate operations in the Bay Area under one roof.
December 6, 2006: Mercury News layoff tally: Job cuts are trimmed to 35
The San Jose Mercury News completed a round of layoffs Tuesday that trimmed its workforce by 35 employees in one of the first big moves under its new owner, MediaNews Group.
May 14, 2007: Mercury News executive editor headed to top job in Cleveland
May 14, 2007: San Jose Mercury News Executive Editor Announcement, Carole Leigh Hutton
July 2, 2007: The San Jose Mercury News Lays Off 31 Employees
The San Jose Mercury News laid off 31 newsroom employees on Monday, as part of a series of cost-cutting moves since being purchased last year by Denver-based MediaNews. Mercury News managers delivered the bad news to the laid-off employees during a series of phone calls to their homes on Monday morning.
August 14, 2007: Merc ad vp Jeff Kiel appointed publisher
Janaury 3, 2008: Hutton Out — Suddenly — as Editor in San Jose
Janaury 3, 2008: MediaNews VP David Butler named editor of San Jose Mercury News
February 5, 2008: San Jose Mercury News publisher (Jeff Kiel) replaced
February 19, 2008: Bay Area papers seek buyouts to cut costs
The company that operates the Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times, San Jose Mercury News and other Bay Area papers has extended voluntary buyout offers to nearly all of its employees and may resort to layoffs as it struggles with a historic slump in the newspaper industry.
The San Jose Mercury News extended a similar buyout offer to the nonunion employees of its 900-person staff, Publisher Mac Tully said. Its union employees, who already have severance agreements in their contracts with similar terms, are also free to accept the invitation to leave, he said.
19 Feb 2008 Michael
[...] When I moved over from reporter to online editor at the Merc, one of the first things I wanted to do was build a site focused on the local music scene. Alas, because of the many distractions at the Merc, lack of resources, etc., it didn’t get done before I left. As the online focus evolved more into video, we began talking about producing a regular series of videos with local bands. The pessimist in me never thought it would happen. But I’m thrilled to see that the Merc has launched Merc Sessions, video interviews with local bands and musicians. I’ll get the nitpicking out of the way first. I wish the video player was bigger. I wish the interviews and performances were mixed together into one video (the Sound Opinions guys do a great job of this). And ultimately, this video should live on a much more interactive site where music fans can be part of the conversation with each other and the bands. But Richard Koci Hernandez is producing the videos with his usual flair. And Shay Quillen is a knowledgeable interviewer. Kudos to them and the others involved. I know how much effort goes into producing shows like these. Here’s hoping my compadres there can keep it going. [...]
[...] I’m not going to go into great detail here about the many rounds of downsizing and layoffs at the Mercury News in particular or MediaNews in general. [...]