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Half a dozen Bay Area newspapers in the East and South Bay will be dissolved into two publications in an ongoing shakeup of the Bay Area News Group’s publications, according to a leaked internal memo sent to employees.
Sharon Ryan, the president and publisher of Bay Area News Group papers announced that the company will consolidate its newspapers in “a desire to sharpen our content offerings in the Bay Area.”
In the East Bay, The Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, The Daily Review and The Argus, which serves Fremont, will combine to become the daily East Bay Times. The company will also replace the contracostatimes.com and insidebayarea.com websites with a new East-Bay focused site, eastbaytimes.com. Subscribers in Oakland, Hayward and Fremont will receive weekly versions of the Oakland Tribune, The Daily Review and The Argus, respectively.
In Silicon Valley and the Peninsula, the San Mateo County Times will join the San Jose Mercury News to become The Mercury News.
These changes will take effect April 5.
Ryan pointed to a 2015 survey of readers as the impetus for the changes.
“Our journalism continues to draws millions of readers in print and online. We are committed to enhancing the quality of that journalism and creating an economic model that ensures a thriving BANG and a well-informed Bay Area community,” Ryan wrote. “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. We’ll give them better focused front page stories that cover national and Bay Area news from each region’s point of view. We’re also adding coverage in content areas we know our readers want more of — in the East Bay that means more environmental news, transportation news and local business news.”
Newsroom staff reductions, in the form of buyouts or layoffs, are expected.
Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Marissa_Jae
