BANG publisher steps down*

MediaNews announced today that John Armstrong, president and publisher of the Bay Area News Group-East Bay, will step down as of October 17. David Rounds, vice president of circulation at the San Jose Mercury News, will replace Armstrong. That, and a few other personnel moves in the Bay Area, detailed here.

*UPDATE: Looks like this was more of a 'pushed out' than a 'stepped down.' As Armstrong tells his own Contra Costa Times:

BANG leadership "concluded that I didn't have the skill set that really was a good fit for the company as it moves forward," said Armstrong, a 45-year newspaper veteran who said he was told of the move last week.

Indeed, Armstrong rose from the editorial ranks and Rounds, his replacement, comes from circulation and advertising. If Southern California is any guide, this move is a harbinger of a further consolidation of operations among Singleton's East Bay papers. Already they share content, but look for them to consolidate copy desk and editorial functions, and then to reduce original content by producing core sections that will run in multiple papers - same features pages, same sports pages, same business pages, same inside-A pages (I'm sure some of this is happening now, especially at the smaller papers like the Hayward Daily Review and Fremont Argus, but I'd guess it will only accelerate).