Mercury News cuts 5 percent of its staff

Through layoffs and buyouts, the Mercury News cut 50 jobs or about 5 percent of its staff today, according to reports from the paper.
Fifteen newsroom employees and 19 employees from other parts of the paper were laid off. Sixteen employees accepted buyout offers, five from the newsroom.
To replace two managers who accepted buyouts, Barbara J. Marshman was named the paper's editorial page editor. She is the first woman to hold that job at the Mercury News.
Stephen R. Trousdale will step into the business editor slot.
The staff reductions are part of cost-cutting plan for two dozen daily and weekly Bay Area newspapers owned by MediaNews and operated by the Bay Area News Group.
At the other papers, which include the Oakland Tribune and the Contra Costa Times, there was a 10 percent staff reduction through buyouts given to 107 people.
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