''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning

daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...

published in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiary of Digital First Media. , it was the fifth largest daily newspaper in the United States, with a daily circulation of 611,194. , the paper has a circulation of 324,500 daily and 415,200 on Sundays. As of 2021, this further declined. The Bay Area News Group no longer reports its circulation, but rather "readership". For 2021, they reported a "readership" of 312,700 adults daily. First published in 1851, the ''Mercury News'' is the last remaining English-language daily newspaper covering the Santa Clara Valley. It became the ''Mercury News'' in 1983 after a series of mergers. During much of the 20th century, it was owned by Knight Ridder. Because of its location in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Count ...

, the ''Mercury News'' has covered many of the key events in the history of computing, and was a pioneer in delivering news online. It was the first American newspaper to publish in three languages (English, Spanish, and Vietnamese).

Name

The paper's name derives from the ''San Jose Mercury'' and ''San Jose News'', two daily newspapers that merged to form the ''Mercury News''. The ''San Jose Mercury''s name was a play on words. The word "mercury" refers to the importance of the mercury industry during the California Gold Rush. At the time, the nearby New Almaden mine (now Almaden Quicksilver County Park) was North America's largest producer of mercury, which was needed for hydraulic gold mining. In addition, Mercury is the Roman messenger of the gods as well as the god of commerce and thieves, known for his swiftness, so the name ''Mercury'' is commonly used for newspapers without the quicksilver association.

Coverage

The paper's local coverage and circulation is concentrated in Santa Clara County and San Mateo County. With the ''Mercury News'', '' East Bay Times'', '' Marin Independent Journal'', and ''Silicon Valley Community Newspapers'', the Bay Area News Group covers much of the

with the notable exception of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

itself. The ''Mercury News''s predecessor, the ''Weekly Visitor'', began as a Whig paper in the early 1850s but quickly switched its affiliation to the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. The paper remained a conservative voice through the mid 20th century, when it supported pro-growth city leaders and pursued a staunchly pro-growth, anti-union agenda. It became considerably more moderate in the 1970s, reflecting new ownership and changes to the local political landscape. It endorsed

John B. Anderson John Bayard Anderson (February 15, 1922 – December 3, 2017) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 16th congressional district from 1961 to 1981. A member o ...

for President in 1980 and has endorsed Democratic presidential candidates in every election since 1992.

History

Early history

The newspaper now known as the ''Mercury News'' began in 1851 or 1852. California legislators had just moved the state capital from San Jose to Vallejo, leading to the failure of San Jose's first two newspapers, the ''Argus'' and ''State Journal''. A group of three businessmen led by John C. Emerson bought the papers' presses to found the ''San Jose Weekly Visitor''. The ''Weekly Visitor'' began as a Whig paper but quickly switched its affiliation to the

. It was renamed the ''Santa Clara Register'' in 1852. The following year, Francis B. Murdoch took over the paper, merging it into the ''San Jose Telegraph''. W. A. Slocum assumed control of the ''Telegraph'' in 1860 and merged it with the ''San Jose Mercury'' or ''Weekly Mercury'' to become the ''Telegraph and Mercury''. William N. Slocum soon dropped ''Telegraph'' from the name. By this point, the ''Mercury'' was one of two newspapers publishing in San Jose.

Owen ownership

James Jerome Owen – a forty-niner and former Republican New York assemblyman – became the ''Mercury''s publisher in the spring of 1861, later acquiring a controlling interest in the paper along with a partner, Benjamin H. Cottle. The paper published daily as the ''San Jose Daily Mercury'' for three months in the fall of 1861, then from August 1869 to April 1870 with the addition of J. J. Conmy as partner and again from March 11, 1872, after the purchase of the ''Daily Guide''. In 1878, Owen formed the Mercury Printing and Publishing Company. In 1881, Owen proposed to light San Jose with a moonlight tower. The San Jose electric light tower was dedicated that year. The ''Mercury'' boasted that San Jose was the first town west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

lighted by electricity. The ''Mercury'' merged with the Times Publishing Company, which was owned by Charles M. Shortridge, in 1884. The ''Daily Morning Times'' and ''Daily Mercury'' briefly became the ''Times-Mercury'', while the ''Weekly Times'' and ''Weekly Mercury'' briefly become the ''Times-Weekly Mercury''. In 1885, both publications adopted the ''San Jose Mercury'' name. That year, Owen sold his interest in the paper and moved to San Francisco. Mercury and Herald, April 19, 1906

Hayes ownership

In late 1900,

Everis A. Hayes Everis Anson Hayes (March 10, 1855 – June 3, 1942) was an American lawyer and politician who served seven terms as a U.S. Representative from California from 1905 to 1919. Biography Born in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Hayes attended the public sc ...

and his brother Jay purchased the ''Mercury''. In August 1901, they purchased the ''San Jose Daily Herald'', an evening paper, and formed the Mercury Herald Company. In 1913, the two papers were consolidated into a single morning paper, the ''San Jose Mercury Herald''. In 1942, the Mercury Herald Company purchased the ''San Jose News'' (which was founded in 1851) but continued to publish both papers, the ''Mercury Herald'' in the morning and the ''News'' in the evening, with a combined Sunday edition called the ''Mercury Herald News''. The ''Herald'' name was dropped in 1950.

Ridder ownership

Herman Ridder's Northwest Publications (later Ridder Publications) purchased the ''Mercury'' and ''News'' in 1952. During the mid 20th century, the papers took largely conservative, pro-growth positions. Publisher Joe Ridder was a vocal proponent of San Jose City Manager A. P. Hamann's development agenda, which emphasized

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

within an ever-expanding city limits. Ridder counted on increasing population to lead to increased newspaper subscriptions and advertising sales. The paper supported a series of general obligation bonds worth $ (equivalent to $ in ), most of it spent on capital improvements that benefited real estate developers. It also supported a revision to the city charter that introduced a direct mayoral elections and abolished the vote of confidence for city manager. By 1967, the ''Mercury'' had risen to rank among the top six largest morning newspapers in the country by circulation, boosted by unabated growth into the suburbs, while the ''News'' ran the most advertising of any evening newspaper in the country. San Jose Mercury News HQ

In February 1967, the ''Mercury'' and ''News'' moved from a cramped former grocery store in downtown San Jose to a campus in suburban North San Jose. A main building could contain more presses to serve a booming population. The newly built complex cost $ (equivalent to $ in ) and was called the largest one-story newspaper plant in the world. Civic leaders criticized the move as emblematic of the urban decay that downtown San Jose was experiencing.

Knight Ridder ownership

In 1974, Ridder merged with Knight Newspapers to form Knight Ridder. Joe Ridder was forced to retire in 1977. His nephew, P. Anthony "Tony" Ridder, succeeded him as publisher. Tony Ridder placed an emphasis on improving the papers' reportage, to better reflect Knight's reputation for investigative journalism. After the merger, the papers moderated their formerly staunch pro-growth agenda, and coverage of local issues became more balanced. The editorial board expressed only minimal opposition to a 1978 measure that abolished

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

city council elections, seen as favorable to deep-pocketed developers, in favor of council districts. It supported the desegregation of San Jose Unified School District and in 1978 argued against Proposition 13. In the 1980s, Ridder supported Mayor Tom McEnery's efforts to redevelop the downtown area, including the construction of San Jose Arena and

The Tech Museum of Innovation The Tech Interactive (formerly The Tech Museum of Innovation, commonly known as The Tech) is a science and technology center that offers hands-on activities, labs, design challenges and other STEAM education resources. It is located in downtown Sa ...

In 1983, the ''Mercury'' and ''News'' merged into a single seven-day paper, the ''San Jose Mercury News'', with separate morning and afternoon editions. The afternoon edition was discontinued in 1995, leaving only the morning edition. In the 1980s and 1990s, the ''Mercury News'' published ''

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

'' magazine as a Sunday insert.

Coverage of ethnic communities

In the 1990s, the ''Mercury News'' expanded its coverage of the area's ethnic communities, to national acclaim, hiring Vietnamese-speaking reporters for the first time. In 1994, it became the first of two American dailies to open a foreign bureau in Vietnam after the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. A foreign correspondent stationed at the

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

bureau held an annual

town hall meeting Town hall meetings, also referred to as town halls or town hall forums, are a way for local and national politicians to meet with their constituents either to hear from them on topics of interest or to discuss specific upcoming legislation or ...

with the Vietnamese-American community in San Jose. Initially, community members staged protests accusing the paper of siding with the Communist government in Vietnam by opening the bureau. Biểu trưng Việt Mercury

The ''Mercury News'' launched the free, Spanish-language weekly (New World) in 1996 and the free, Vietnamese-language weekly ''

Viet Mercury ''Viet Mercury'' ( vi, Việt Mercury) was a Vietnamese-language newspaper serving the Vietnamese American community in San Jose and the surrounding Silicon Valley area in California. It was published weekly by the ''San Jose Mercury News'' from ...

'' in 1999. ''Viet Mercury'' was the first Vietnamese-language newspaper published by an English-language daily. It competed against a crowded field of 14 Vietnamese-owned community newspapers, including four dailies.

Growth alongside the technology industry

The ''Mercury News'' benefited from its status as the major daily newspaper in

during the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Comp ...

. It led the news industry in business coverage of the valley's high-tech industry, attracting readers from around the world. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'' called the ''Mercury News'' the most technologically-savvy newspaper in the country. The tech industry's growth fueled growth in the paper's classified advertising, particularly for employment listings. For 20 years, the ''Mercury News'' was one of the country's top newspapers in the amount of advertising it ran. The ''Mercury News'' was one of the first daily newspapers in the United States to have an online presence, and was the first to deliver full content and breaking news online. It launched a service called Mercury Center on

America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

in 1993, followed by the country's first news website in 1995 (see ). Mercury Center shut down its AOL service in July 1996, leaving only the website. KnightRidder

At its peak in 2001, the ''Mercury News'' had 400 employees in its newsroom, 15 bureaus, $ in annual revenue, and profit margins above 30%. In 1998, Knight Ridder moved its headquarters from

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

to the Knight-Ridder Building in San Jose, which was seen as an acknowledgment of the central role that online news would play in the company's future. Mercury Center ended its paywall in May 1998, after posting 1.2 million monthly unique visitors the previous year. By 2000, the paper had a Sunday circulation of 327,000 and $ in annual revenue, $ of it from job listings. In 2001, circulation rose to 289,413 daily and 332,669 Sundays.

Flush times come to an end

The collapse of the dot-com bubble impacted the classified advertising that sustained the newspaper's business operations. Additionally, newspapers across the industry faced serious competition to their job listings from websites such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder, and

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark began the ...

. Cost-cutting began affecting the initiatives the paper had started in the 1990s. In June 2005, the ''Mercury News'' closed its Hanoi bureau. On October 21, it also announced the closure of and the sale of ''Viet Mercury'' to a group of Vietnamese-American businessmen; however, the deal fell through, and ''Viet Mercury'' published its final issue on November 11, 2005.

Digital First ownership

On March 13, 2006, The McClatchy Company purchased Knight Ridder for $. In a surprise move, McClatchy immediately put the ''Mercury News'' and 11 other newspapers back up for sale. On April 26,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

-based MediaNews Group (now Digital First Media) announced a planned $ purchase of the ''Mercury News'', two other California newspapers, and the ''

St. Paul Pioneer Press The ''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' is a newspaper based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It serves the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the east metro, including Ramsey County, Minn ...

'', with the three California papers to be added to the California Newspapers Partnership (CNP). However, on June 12, 2006, federal regulators from the U.S. Department of Justice asked for more time to review the purchase, citing possible antitrust concerns over MediaNews' ownership of other newspapers in the region. Although approval by regulators and completion of MediaNews' acquisition was announced on August 2, 2006, a lawsuit claiming antitrust violations by MediaNews and the Hearst Corporation had also been filed in July 2006. The suit, which sought to undo the purchase of both the ''Mercury News'' and the '' Contra Costa Times'', was scheduled to go to trial on April 30, 2007. While extending until that date a preliminary injunction that prevented the collaboration of local distribution and national advertising sales by the two media conglomerates, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on December 19, 2006, expressed doubt over the legality of the purchase. On April 25, 2007, days before the trial was scheduled to begin, the parties reached a settlement in which MediaNews preserved its acquisitions. The ''Mercury News'' and ''Contra Costa Times'' were placed under CNP's local subsidiary, the Bay Area News Group. Meanwhile, layoffs continued at the ''Mercury News''. Around December 2016, 101 employees were laid off, including 40 in the newsroom. In 2013, MediaNews Group and 21st Century Media merged to form Digital First Media. In April 2013, MediaNews announced that it would sell the ''Mercury News'' campus on Ridder Park Drive in North San Jose. County Supervisor Dave Cortese approached the ''Mercury News'' about moving into the former San Jose City Hall on North First Street, but the paper ended up returning downtown. In June 2014, printing and production of the ''Mercury News'' and other daily newspapers moved to Bay Area News Group's Concord and Hayward facilities. The ''Mercury News'' moved into a downtown office building that September. According to the publishers, the Ridder Park Drive facility had become unnecessarily large for the paper, following the departure of printing operations and other staff reductions that had occurred over the years. On April 5, 2016, Bay Area News Group consolidated the '' San Mateo County Times'' and 14 other titles into the ''San Jose Mercury News''. The paper's name was shortened to ''The Mercury News''.

Facilities

The ''Mercury News'' is the largest tenant in the Towers @ 2nd high-rise office complex in downtown San Jose. Business functions occupy the seventh floor of 4 North Second Street, while news staff and executives occupy the eighth floor, for a total of . Printing and production of the ''Mercury News'' take place at the Bay Area News Group's facilities in Concord and Hayward in the East Bay. Originally, the ''Mercury'' and ''News'' published from various locations in downtown San Jose. From February 1967 to September 2014, the papers were headquartered in a campus in suburban North San Jose, abutting the Nimitz Freeway (then State Route 17, now Interstate 880). The Web staff was originally co-located with the newsroom staff but moved to downtown San Jose in December 1996. Following the ''Mercury News'' return to the downtown area, Digital First Media sold the suburban campus to Super Micro Computer, Inc., which renamed it " Supermicro Green Computing Park". Older ''San Jose Mercury News'' newsboxes have black, white, and green stripes, while newer ''Mercury News'' newsboxes bear the paper's logo in white against a blue background.

Online presence

The ''Mercury News'' operates a paywalled website, which is located at mercurynews.com, sjmercury.com, or sjmn.com. Its SiliconValley.com website focuses on the technology industry in

. It also publishes a morning e-mail

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of ...

, Good Morning Silicon Valley, that covers technology news. "Mercury News" and "e-Edition" applications are available for

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

and iOS devices, as well as for the Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook. The ''Mercury News'' was one of the first daily newspapers in the United States to have an online presence and was the first to deliver full content and breaking news online. In 1990, editor Robert Ingle sent a report to Tony Ridder, then the head of Knight Ridder, on the company's future in electronic media after the failure of Viewtron four years earlier. Ingle proposed a Mercury Center online service that would use the newspaper's content to bring together

communities of interest A community of interest, or interest-based community, is a community of people who share a common interest or passion. These people exchange ideas and thoughts about the given passion, but may know (or care) little about each other outside this ar ...

. It launched as part of

on May 10, 1993, at AOL keyword . It was the second news service on AOL, after the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' opened Chicago Online in 1992. The paper sent

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined ...

s to subscribers for accessing Mercury Center. The service featured a large amount of content for free: the print paper's full content, supplementary material such as documents and audio clips, stock quotes, and about 200 stories that did not make the print edition. A

forum Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example *Internet ...

enabled readers to converse with each other and give feedback to reporters. However, the service's most popular content lie behind a paywall: back issues from 1985 onward and a "NewsHound" clipping service were popular with business users. Readers could enter alphanumeric codes, which appeared throughout the print paper, to quickly access online versions of articles that did not make print. Examples included for an article in the news section or for a press release in the business section. The Mercury Center staff comprised both news reporters and business "senders", who posted press releases online in addition to vetted content. Initially, the service had difficulty attracting users, prompting the paper to add a telephone and fax hotline, News Call, in November 1993. By early 1994, Mercury Center had added 5,100 subscribers to AOL, representing less than 20% of AOL's 30,000 subscribers in the

or less than two percent of the ''Mercury News''s 282,488 daily subscribers. In December 1994, the ''Mercury News'' began beta-testing a companion website, Mercury Center Web, which on January 20, 1995, became the country's first news website. Subscribers no longer needed AOL to access the ''Mercury News''s online content, and the paper no longer had to share advertising revenue with AOL. The site ran on Netscape's Netsuite Web server, with connectivity provided by Netcom. Access to the site cost $4.95 per month, with a discount for print subscribers. In October 1995, CareerBuilder.com launched as a partnership between the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'', ''Mercury News'', ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

''. Mercury Center shut down its AOL service in July 1996, leaving only the website. In August 1996, the ''Mercury News'' published "Dark Alliance", a series of investigative articles by reporter Gary Webb that claimed CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking (see ). The ''Mercury News'' promoted the upcoming series on

Usenet newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distin ...

s weeks in advance. Mercury Center published reporting and supporting material online simultaneously with the print edition. The robust online production drew significant national attention to the series. Within days, more than 2,500 websites linked to Mercury Center's "Dark Alliance" section, and the site received 100,000 daily page views over the usual traffic for weeks. Executive editor Jerome Ceppos eventually distanced the paper from the series, but it continued to receive attention, especially from online conspiracy theorists. On October 26, 1999, technology columnist Dan Gillmor began writing a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

, ''eJournal'', on the ''Mercury News'' SiliconValley.com website. It is believed to have been the first blog by a journalist at a traditional media company. In the 2000s, he was joined by columnists-turned-bloggers Tim Kawakami and John Paczkowski. Articles dating back to June 1985 can be found online for free on the ''Mercury News'' website, with full text available on the NewsLibrary and NewsBank subscription databases. NewsBank also hosts the full text of articles from 1886 to 1922. The San José Public Library's website hosts thousands of news clips of articles from 1920 to 1979. Much of Gillmor's ''eJournal'' is preserved on the Bayosphere website.

Awards

The newspaper has earned several awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes, one in 1986 for reporting regarding political corruption in the

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martia ...

administration in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and one in 1990 for their comprehensive coverage of the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of ...

. Assistant managing editor David Yarnold was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2004 for a local corruption investigation. The Mercury News was also named one of the five best-designed newspapers in the world by the

Society for News Design The Society for News Design (SND), formerly known as the Society of Newspaper Design, is an international organization for professionals working in the news sector of the media industry, specifically those involved with graphic design, illustration ...

for work done in 2001. In 2007 the newspaper won a Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award for General Excellence, Class IV. Various staff writers and designers have received awards for their contributions to ''

'' magazine, a Sunday insert published by the ''Mercury News'' in the 1980s and 1990s. The ''Mercury News'' website received EPpy Awards in 1996, 1999, 2009, 2013, and 2014.

Controversies

In August 1996, the ''Mercury News'' published "Dark Alliance", a series of investigative articles by reporter Gary Webb. The series claimed that members of the Nicaraguan

Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 ...

, an anti-government group organized with the help of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

, had been involved in smuggling cocaine into America to support their struggle, and as a result, had played a major role in creating the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. The series sparked three federal investigations, but other newspapers such as the ''

'' later published articles alleging that the series' claims were overstated. Executive editor Jerry Ceppos, who had approved the series, eventually published a column that suggested shortcomings in the series' reporting, editing, and production, while maintaining the story was correct "on many important points". The series was turned into a 1998 a book by the same name, also by Webb, and an account of the controversy surrounding the series was published as '' Kill the Messenger'' in 2006. Both were the basis for the 2014 film '' Kill the Messenger''.

Notable people

Lamberto Alvarez Lamberto Alvarez (born March 21, 1953) is an American painter, sculptor, photographer, musician and author of Mexican-American descent living in Texas. "Lamberto" is his registered trademark. He was one of three Latinos chosen by the Walt Disney Co ...

artist *

Scott Apel D. Scott Apel is an American author and media critic. He is famous for his analyses of the work of science fiction author Philip K. Dick and the television series ''The Prisoner''. Apel hosted a rebroadcast of ''The Prisoner'' on San Jose public ...

''Mercury News'' movie columnist; science fiction writer * Dwight Bentel ''Mercury Herald'' reporter * Ryan Blitstein ''Mercury News'' business reporter; nonprofit executive * Howard Bryant technology and sports reporter * Ric Bucher ''Mercury News'' beat writer; radio basketball analyst * Stephen Butler financial columnist * Lou Cannon reporter * John Canzano sports columnist * Pete Carey Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter * Denis Collins reporter * Tim Cowlishaw sportswriter *

Penny De Los Santos Penny De Los Santos is a documentary, culinary photographer, a senior contributor to ''Saveur Magazine'' and co-authored or contributed to more than a dozen food and culture books. Early life Santos was born in Germany to an American family. Sh ...

photographer * Diana Diamond editorial writer *

Hannah Dreier Hannah Dreier is an American journalist. She is a ''New York Times'' reporter who specializes in narrative features and investigations. She previously worked at ProPublica, where she was the recipient of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writi ...

reporter *

Sandra Eisert Sandra Eisert (born January 1, 1952) is an American photojournalist, now an art director and picture editor. In 1974 she became the first White House picture editor. Later she was named Picture Editor of the Year by the National Press Photogra ...

Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer and ''West'' art director * Katherine Ellison Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter * Steve Fainaru investigative reporter * Dan Gillmor technology columnist and blogger *

Susan Goldberg Susan Goldberg is an American journalist and former editor in chief of ''National Geographic Magazine''. She was the first woman to edit the magazine since it was first published in 1888. Before joining ''National Geographic'', Goldberg worked a ...

''Mercury News'' managing editor; magazine editor * Pedro Gomez baseball writer * Minal Hajratwala ''Mercury News'' journalist; writer and queer rights activist *

Jay T. Harris Jay T. Harris (December 3, 1948 – ), an African-American journalist; journalism educator at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois; and chairman and publisher of the ''San Jose Mercury News'' in ...

''Mercury News'' chairman and publisher *

''Mercury Herald'' publisher and proprietor; Republican congressman from California *

David E. Hoffman David Emanuel Hoffman (born August 5, 1953) is an American writer and journalist, a contributing editor to ''The Washington Post''. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for a book about the legacy of the nuclear arms race. Journalism Hoffman was born ...

reporter *

David Cay Johnston David Cay Boyle Johnston (born December 24, 1948) is an American investigative journalist and author, a specialist in economics and tax issues, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting. From July 2011 until September 2012 he was a ...

reporter * Tim Kawakami sports columnist * Jeffrey Bruce Klein ''West'' editor-in-chief; investigative reporter * Robert Lindsey ''Mercury News'' reporter; crime author *

Steve Lopez Steven M. Lopez (born 1953) is an American journalist and four-time Pulitzer Prize finalist who has been a columnist for ''The Los Angeles Times'' since 2001. Life and work Lopez is a native of Pittsburg, California, and attended San Jose Stat ...

staff writer *

Michael S. Malone Michael Shawn Malone (born January 21, 1954) is an American author, columnist, editor, investor, businessman, television producer, and has been the host of several shows on PBS. Currently (2009), Malone is a columnist for ABC News, an op-ed co ...

technology reporter *

Gerald Nachman Gerald Weil Nachman (January 13, 1938 – April 14, 2018) was an American journalist and author from San Francisco. Biography Nachman was born January 13, 1938, to Leonard Calvert Nachman, a salesman and actor in the Little Theater movement, ...

''Mercury'' television reviewer * Hoang Xuan Nguyen ''Viet Mercury'' managing editor; South Vietnamese author * James Jerome Owen ''Mercury'' publisher; Republican New York assemblyman and California assemblyman * John Paczkowski technology blogger * Sal Pizarro Around Town, Cocktail Chronicles columnist * Michael Rezendes reporter *

James Herbert (Bert) Robinson James John Herbert, Order of the British Empire, OBE (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013) was an English Horror fiction, horror writer. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold 54 million copies wo ...

Pulitzer Prize-winning Senior Editor *

Lewis M. Simons Lewis M. Simons (born January 9, 1939) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent on foreign affairs throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Early life A native of Paterson, Lewis Simons was raised in New Jersey. For his post-se ...

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter *

Susan Slusser Susan Slusser is an American sportswriter who works for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', covering the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. She was the first woman to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. ...

baseball writer * Rebecca Smith reporter * Timothy Taylor opinion columnist * Philip Trounstine political writer and editor * Gary Webb investigative reporter * Troy Wolverton technology columnist * David Yarnold ''Mercury News'' senior vice president; environmentalist

Community weeklies

''The Mercury News'' publishes the following community weeklies: *''

Almaden Resident The ''Almaden Resident'' is a newspaper serving the San Jose area. It is published weekly on Fridays and distributed in ''The Mercury News''. History The ''Almaden Resident'' was founded in 2003 as part of a group of weekly newspapers in the ...

'' *''Cambrian Resident'' *''Campbell Reporter'' *''Cupertino Courier'' *''Los Gatos Weekly'' *''Rose Garden Resident'' *''

Saratoga News The ''Saratoga News'' is a local paper covering the city of Saratoga, California, in Santa Clara county. Published weekly on Tuesday, it has an estimated circulation of 13,240. Ownership and history The ''Saratoga News'' was founded in 1955 by ...

'' *''

Sunnyvale Sun The ''Sunnyvale Sun'' is a weekly newspaper published on Fridays serving the city of Sunnyvale, CA and surrounding Santa Clara county. Its circulation is estimated to be 21,350. USNPL lists Matt Wilson as the editor of the Sunnyvale Sun, though Wi ...