US: Further newspaper job cuts in the Bay Area

Posted by Rory Satran on October 24, 2006 at 10:14 AM

MediaNews, the Denver-based newspaper group that recently bought several California Bay Area papers, has announced major job cuts at the San Jose Mercury News. 101 workers will be laid off by December. In addition, the longtime editor of the Contra Costa Times has been dismissed.

The Mercury News will effectively be cutting 8.5% of its staff, including 14% of the newsroom. This follows a major November 2005 downsizing, when 52 newsroom staff chose voluntary buyouts.

The San Jose Newspaper Guild protests the layoffs, declaring that MediaNews is “reacting precipitously to quarterly results by taking steps that will further diminish our newspaper.''

Another MediaNews paper, the Contra Costa Times, has made redundant its editor of six years, Chris Lopez. Lopez will be replaced by executive editor Kevin Keane, who plans to expand the Times’ web operations.

The Mercury News and Contra Costa Times join other papers across the nation trimming costs and dozens of jobs, among them the Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News.

Sources: San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times