[nickcarraway]

The Mercury News' ad-to-content ratio is just above the level needed to qualify as a newspaper.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[glorgau]

Well, compared to the San Francisco Chronicle - which is nothing but a propaganda rag - it is my choice for buying a daily newspaper around the Bay area. Plus, the newstand price is just 25 cents as opposed to the higher priced Chronicle.

The Bay area also has numerous free newspapers that pose significant competition.

[skeeter]

Problem with the Merc is for the past 20 years they've been catering to a market that doesn't read english language publications.

[Petronski]

Tuesday's Home & Garden section will be cleverly renamed "How-to."

Saves ink.

LOL

[mumzie]

no, no, no.. it's the SMerc....

[Doctor Raoul]

You have a right to free editions of the San Jose Mercury News! Don't buy it until they make it free.

[pissant]

San Jose is a floundering S***hole. Too close to San Francisco, I guess.

[Eddeche]

and in related financial news...

Today's close:
SALON MEDIA GP (OTC BB:SALN.OB)
Last Trade: 0.10

[BluH2o]

I visited San Jose back in mid-October when they gave their ringing endorsement to Kerry. Not sure to what extent that reflected the sentiment of their readers ... but, as someone who is safely and smugly ensconced in Jesusland, it was a major turn off to me.

[Veto!]

I like the Mercury News for running a several-art article on the wasteful spending of the Sierra Club, whose execs make incredible salaries and ride around in limos. Plus,plus. The nicked it Club Sierra.

[GOP_1900AD]

Bwahahaha! Even with a largely Leftist market area, they STILL can't make the grade! What a freakin' rag. BTW - I actually had a SJ News route back before they merged the two together. How times have changed. Back then, the SJ News was actually considered a Right Wing paper! Oh my, now I am dating my self. "Sonny, back in my day, we walked 10 miles to school in raging blizzards! ... " ;)

[Flash Bazbeaux]

Has anyone noticed that the San Francisco Chronicle is slowly abandoning its "Op-ed" page? They haven't had one on Saturdays for years, but over the past three or four months, with increasing frequency, they put some gimmicky nonsense in the op ed page which consists of mostly graphics and blank space, with a tiny amount of text, or none at all. I think they're doing this about once a week now.

They try to pass off these space wasters as "special features", but they are usually so fluffy it looks to me like it's a way to fill up the page while avoiding paying for the syndicated columns they usually run, most of which are from the NY times issue of three days before.

[GOP_Raider]

That's ok, the papers in the Bay Area blow anyway. The only one that may even be worth the four bits would be the Contra Costa Times because every once in a blue moon, they'd write something insightful about the Raiders. Other than that, good riddance.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Some enterprising FReeper ought to buy this newspaper and turn it around!