Bay Area News Group to cut more jobs

The company that publishes every daily newspaper in the Bay Area, except for the Chronicle, is offering buyouts to its employees in advance of more job cuts, reports the Chron.  The company owns the County Times, which has one reporter dedicated to Coastside coverage.

In a memo to employees on Tuesday, Bay Area News Group-East Bay President and Publisher John Armstrong said the company must eliminate a "significant" number of jobs as it seeks to save a specific, but unstated amount of money. The group provided the offer to 1,100 or so people it employs across more than a dozen daily and weekly newspapers in the East Bay, including the West County Times and Tri-Valley Herald.

The San Jose Mercury News extended a similar buyout offer to the nonunion employees of its 900-person staff, Publisher Mac Tully said. Its union employees, who already have severance agreements in their contracts with similar terms, are also free to accept the invitation to leave, he said.

BANG cites its anticipation of continued weakness in the economy for the cuts.