Mercury News publisher resigns over profit targets

"In a letter to Knight Ridder CEO Tony Ridder and the Newspaper Division president, Steve Rossi, I explained I was stepping down 'in the hope that doing so will cause them to closely examine the wisdom' of the profit targets we've been struggling to find a way to meet," Harris wrote.

In a self profile published by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Harris described himself as a "journalistic traditionalist" and bemoaned when short-term demands cause a paper to sacrifice core values.

"We all know we must make significant adjustments in the face of the currently severe economic downturn," Harris wrote Monday. "But so far, we have been unable to find a way to meet the new targets without risking significant and lasting harm to the Mercury News -- as a journalistic enterprise and as the special place to work that it is."

Calls to Harris' office were not returned. Mercury News spokeswoman Patty Wise said the paper had no comment.

Earlier this month, Harris had announced plans to lay off an unspecified number of employees, blaming a dramatic fall in help-wanted ad revenue and other signs of Silicon Valley's economic slowdown.

The paper has 1,700 employees. It is the third largest in Northern California with a daily circulation of 289,000.

Early retirement offers may help, but "we will be unable to achieve the level of expense reduction we are seeking to achieve without layoffs," Harris said in a March 5 memo to the staff.

In a Monday afternoon letter to Mercury News staff, Ridder and Rossi said corporate officials asked Harris "to reconsider, but he would not."

The letter also said Harris, Rossi, and other Knight Ridder officials met Friday to discuss upcoming business decisions.

"While the meeting was tough and candid, (Rossi) made clear that he wanted no layoffs of full-time newsroom employees and hoped to avoid layoffs of full-time employees elsewhere in the building," the letter said. "He, like Jay, did not want to damage the long-term future of the Mercury News. We think it is important that you know that."

Reporters at the paper described a gloomy newsroom following the announcement. At 5 p.m., about 250 staff walked out of the paper's building to show solidarity with Harris and his reluctance to bow to the bottom line.

"Hopefully, this will spark a nationwide debate over this issue of having to please Wall Street," said Luther Jackson, executive officer of the San Jose Newspaper Guild, a union representing 700 Mercury News employees.

Staff went back to their deadline work after about 10 minutes outside.

Despite the paper's recent troubles, newspaper industry analysts said Harris' resignation was unexpected.

"He's always been one of the company's most highly regarded executives and has successfully run one of the company's biggest profit centers," said John Morton, a newspaper analyst from Silver Springs, Md. "I'm very surprised."

Harris, former executive editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, has spent nearly 30 years in journalism. He was a national correspondent and columnist for Gannett News Service in Washington D.C., and a member of the faculty of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

He has been noted for efforts to bring increased racial diversity to American newsrooms. In the last five years he also launched weekly Spanish- and Vietnamese-language newspapers tied to the Mercury News.

Harris said he will stay in the Silicon Valley area, but did not know his next professional step.<