The Bay Area News Group announced Tuesday that it is combining its daily newspapers in the East Bay, Silicon Valley and on the Peninsula into two distinct publications — the East Bay Times and The Mercury News.
The new East Bay Times will incorporate daily coverage from the current Tri-Valley Times, San Ramon Valley Times, Contra Costa Times, East County Times, West County Times, The Oakland Tribune, The Daily Review and The Argus.
The name San Jose is being dropped from the Mercury News.
The changes, which take effect April 5, will give readers on both sides of the Bay more focused regional news that impacts their daily lives, according to Sharon Ryan, the news group’s president and publisher, who said the two daily newspapers will continue to include community news.
The Argus in Fremont, The Daily Review in Hayward and The Oakland Tribune will change over to community weeklies, adding to the group’s current collection of 27 weeklies in the South Bay and East Bay. As part of the move, the news organization will create an East Bay-wide website, eastbaytimes.com, replacing the current contracostatimes.com and insidebayarea.com.
Ryan said the moves are being undertaken in the wake of an extensive survey of print readers last fall.
“Readers have been quite clear with us about how much they like their newspapers and what they want more of, and we’re changing to serve them better,” Ryan said.
She said the changes are part of an ongoing transformation to make BANG more responsive to its print and digital audiences, streamlining production while improving news gathering and presentation to provide readers with news when they want it and where they want it.
It was also announced that the changes will result in “a modest reduction” in staffing in certain areas some of it through buyouts in the newsroom and expansion in others.
