San Francisco Peninsula Press Club: Merc cuts 50 jobs, names two new editors

The Mercury News said today it has cut 50 jobs — 16 through voluntary buyouts and 34 through layoffs. The cuts represent 5 percent of the paper's staff. It was the third round of layoffs since MediaNews Group acquired the paper in August 2006.

Yesterday, the Bay Area News Group-East Bay, which includes the Contra Costa Times and other MediaNews papers in the region, said it was able to avoid layoffs by giving buyouts to 107 of its employees.

At the Merc, 20 of the jobs lost were in the 173-person newsroom. Five newsroom workers accepted buyouts and 15 were laid off this morning. When MediaNews bought the paper, it had a newsroom of 242 people.

Editor David Butler also filled two vacancies today.

• Barbara J. Marshman, associate editor, will replace Stephen E. Wright as editorial page editor. She is the first woman to hold that job at the Merc.

• Deputy business editor Stephen R. Trousdale replaces Rebecca Salner as business editor.