San Jose Comes to San Fran. The San Jose Mercury News is now
publishing a morning San Francisco edition available throughout the Bay Area,
including an expanded local news section with more business and tech news. The
new edition started with a limited circulation in January, but is now being
distributed to nearly 500 locations around San Francisco. This brings to seven
the number of separate daily and Sunday editions for the Mercury News.
The move comes on the heels of the paper's opening of New York and Seattle bureaus.
(Harris, 408/920-5000)
New Chapter in Chronicle Saga. Meanwhile, Bay area readers will soon see another paper change. The Hearst Corp. has finalized its $660 million purchase of the morning
San Francisco Chronicle after a federal judge ruled the company could sell its afternoon paper, the San Francisco Examiner, to a local businessman. Hearst spokesman
Paul Luthringer says employees from both newspapers have "an ironclad guarantee of employment" at Hearst when the dust settles.
(Luthringer, 212/649-2540) Calling it quits on culture. Attic Communications is pulling the plug on Madison, its cultural magazine targeting affluent
urban readers. The two-year-old pub will be "suspended" after the Sept. 12 release of its October issue. Editorial director Pamela Schein says Madison was muscled aside in
an increasingly competitive market ruled by major players such as Hearst and Time Inc. The company never had the resources to invest in promoting the magazine to new readers, she
says.
(Schein, 212/957-0017)