The end of the Times

So the news at the beginning of this month that the San Mateo County Times would cease to officially exist Tuesday, April 5, to be newly known as The Mercury News, along with the group’s San Jose flagship paper, should have come as no surprise.

You might think that as editor of a competing newspaper, I would be pleased by this news, as if we had won some sort of longtime battle. But that’s not the case. While true the Daily Journal started in 2000 because of the dearth of local news coverage in San Mateo County, and that was because the Times had its interests elsewhere, the local loss is symbolic of a shifting of the industry and of reader interests in recent years. And to put it simply, the San Mateo County Times, and the Times before it, is a community icon whose loss should be mourned.

While no one can say that the recent incarnation of the Times was close to its heyday in the middle part of the last century, it was a robust newspaper that served the community well when I first arrived here as a journalist in 1997. Though I know the original Times boasted a newsroom of 50 at one time, the County Times in 1997 had a full staff of 12 reporters, a few editors and several talented photographers — one of whom, John Green, is still plugging away producing a visual history of this ever-changing area. Since then, the staff has dwindled to one full-time reporter, Aaron Kinney, who is talented and creative and produces interesting storytelling on selected topics.

No one knows what the future holds for the Bay Area News Group, but it, along with every other traditional newspaper company providing metro-style coverage, has been facing tremendous pressure to meet the changing face of the news industry sparked by the advent and growing popularity of the Internet and social media. Even national newspapers such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal face pressure to change with the times.

At its start, the Daily Journal was considered to be a new model for newspapers, with intensely local news coverage, a small and nimble staff and the capability to use advancing technology to our advantage. That proved to be true at first but then the times moved even quicker, though it helps to have a nimble staff and a smart and creative publisher.

No one knows what the future also holds for newspapers overall, and it is a question sure to cause a stir among those in the industry for a long period of time, or among those who got out of the industry and remember the old times. However, the fact remains that journalism, particularly local journalism, is prized among active communities, and what is now known as the newspaper industry will soon be known as simply the news industry. No matter how the industry evolves, engaged communities will either find a way to support the news organizations they cherish or a new incarnation will rise to take its place.

Here at the Daily Journal, our plan is to try our very best at all times to cover San Mateo County in a responsive and responsible way as long as we can, and as long as the community supports us in whatever form it sees fit.

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