BANG goes boom

MediaNews Group announced today that its Bay Area News Group will undergo a major consolidation that will merge 12 newspapers into three and eliminate 120 jobs - 48 of the positions are in the newsroom, KQED reports. When all is finished, BANG will consist of the Mercury News, The Times and East Bay Tribune.

BANG is using words like "streamlining" and "rebranding" to describe the merging and cutting. The actions should not come as a surprise given the decision MediaNews made in June to consolidate editorial control of the papers.

Here's part of the story (which appears to have been written by an ad agency) published on the soon-to-be retooled Contra Costa Times website:

Bay Area News Group (BANG) today announced a rebranding of many of its newspapers to better reflect the scope of its regional coverage. The changes - which include a streamlining of its print operations - primarily involve its East Bay newspapers, and will result in greater emphasis on providing high-impact, regional and local coverage. 

-snip- 

The streamlining of its print operations will also result in a reduction of approximately 120 jobs - primarily in the production and editorial divisions - out of a local workforce of 1,500 employees.

Management at MediaNews will argue, as it does in the story, that this consolidation is about much more than job cuts; that its a necessary step to position the BANG as a competitive news outlet in the rough and tumble 21st century. And maybe this smaller knot of news power will get the job done. But we cannot overlook the fact that this recently bankrupt company is trying to raise $350 million to buy newspapers from Freedom Communications. And we know editorial power wanes when you eliminate four dozen news staffers.

Or as the San Francisco Chronicles' Carla Marinucci tweeted: “Corporate PR spin: Release from CA’s Bay Area News Group, announcing decimation of its newspaper/staff chain tday, calls it ‘rebranding.’” (found via Romenesko)

Photographer loses First Amendment case

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Oakland Tribune photographer Ray Chavez in which he alleged an Oakland police officer had violated his First Amendment right to cover news as a member of the press.

In May 2007, Chavez was handcuffed and arrested after he stopped his car on the highway to take pictures of a traffic accident. Chavez's lawyer plans to appeal the decision.

The photographer will also pursue a lawsuit in state court, where he'll probably have better luck, since state law grants journalists greater protections when trying to access accident scenes.

Also, why Chavez isn't being represented by an attorney from the newspaper?

Paper: Oakland school's police chief must go

The editorial page of the Oakland Tribune has called on the Oakland Unified School District to fire Police Chief Art Michel for his abusive treatment of a Tribune photographer who he claimed had elbowed his patrol car while she was covering a student protest.

Thank god...the police*

It may surprise you to learn that people in power sometimes abuse their authority.

*UPDATED: I should have included the Oakland Tribune story of the incident. It's here. As you read it, I ask you to first ponder the notion of a female photographer trying to elbow a patrol car out of her way, and then to consider the description of a student protest as a "moving crime scene."