Veteran journalist John Bowman, who resigned as editor of the San Mateo County Times rather than make draconian cuts demanded by owner MediaNews Group, questions whether the company's cost-cutting strategy will work in San Jose, where it bought the Mercury News 11 months ago.
MediaNews, the Denver newspaper chain headed by Dean Singleton, is in the midst of its second round of layoffs at the Merc in six months, which have reduced the scope and depth of the former Knight Ridder paper's news coverage. Bowman lives in San Jose. He tells Erin Sherbert of the alt-weekly Metro that readers in his town want more than city hall reports and police stories. They want in-depth investigations and news analysis, something readers are starting to lose in the wake of newsroom cuts.
"I think San Jose is a market where we will have a real test of whether the readers will put up with just anything ... Maybe this is the one market where Dean Singleton can't get away with being Dean Singleton."
Peninsula Press Club: Will San Jose be Dean Singleton's Waterloo?
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