Strange days for local news

But I’m not.

My competitive instinct is to say "good riddance” to a certain portion of our competition. After all, we are at a distinct disadvantage since we are owned by no one else, not affiliated with anyone else and receive no corporate support. The Daily Journal is run by a small group of people who had strong connections to the paper from the beginning, all live in the area and are deeply interested in the success of just this one newspaper. We can’t run news stories from another publication if we miss one.

Our competitors, on the other hand, can. Every day, readers can see San Mateo County Times reporters submitting stories to the Daily News and Daily News reporters submitting stories to the San Mateo County Times. Occasionally, their stories will also make it to the San Jose Mercury News or other BANG papers like the Oakland Tribune or the Valley Times. It makes financial sense, I suppose, and I don’t fault them for trying to be creative in maximizing resources particularly when those resources are disappearing.

The industry decline is no way reflective of the reporters for these papers. They are hard-working professionals who try their best to reflect the community.

But newspaper cuts are rampant in this industry and from what I hear, morale at BANG is at an all-time low even after years of general malaise from its previous incarnation as the Alameda Newspaper Group. I sort of knew this would happen once MediaNews, run by Dean Singleton, bought the Mercury News and other properties, but honestly I didn’t expect this dissolution so fast.

Toward the beginning of my newspaper career, I worked at the now-defunct weekly San Mateo Independent and was often the only reporter at a city council meeting since the County Times knew they could scoop us by calling the next day. Once the Daily Journal and Daily News opened shop in 2000, I made the move to the Daily Journal and the race was on. Reporters often stayed to the bitter end of meetings, sharking sources to make sure their stories were better, more concise and sharper. Pushing deadline to past midnight was not unheard of, in fact it may have been seen as a matter of survival. But that changed.

As the Daily News was bought out by Knight Ridder, McClatchy then MediaNews, the County Times became part of BANG and the Independent morphed into a new form of the once-respected Hearst Examiner, meeting participation dropped and aggressive competition is seeming to wane.

Like I said, I should be pleased with the progression since the Daily Journal was on the ropes and on our heels a mere five years ago. But now on our financial toes and in fighting shape, so to speak, the rapid changes at our competition makes me sad. I relish healthy competition and a fair fight. And I think readers benefit, too.

With competition, there are more sources of information and everyone makes damn sure they cover everything. I sometimes think news junkies in this area are lucky to have so many free and relatively cheap sources of information (after all, the County Times can be delivered to your house for a mere $15 a year). Four daily newspapers in one county is an anomaly. But I’m afraid it may not last for long, so relish it.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com.