Talk:The Mercury News

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Merc

"The Merc's sections vary by day of the week, but Business, Sports, and The Valley are standard daily fare."

...Except in those areas which get The Peninsula (or The East Bay?) instead of The Valley. And the A section--and of course the Classifed[ ads]--are fairly standard fare. :-) —wwoods 20:57, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Ohhhh, OK, you're right. I probably won't retake the photo, but of course you can adjust the caption. :-) Elf | Talk 21:12, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

preposterous "Mercury" theory

User:67.180.169.248 said

Removing preposterous "Mercury" theory.

The name "Mercury" refers to the importance of the mercury industry during the California Gold Rush, when the city's New Almaden Mines were the largest producer of mercury in North America.

Hey, I thought it was unlikely myself, but the paper's website says,

... Founded in 1851 as the San Jose Weekly Visitor, the Mercury News has grown into one of the nation's great dailies. Drawing its name from the region's quicksilver mines, the Mercury News...http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/contact_us/about/

Mercury (quicksilver) was a very prominent element, pun intended, in San Jose's early development because of its usefulness in gold mining. The intention behind the name wouldn't have escaped locals at the time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Swilder0123 (talk • contribs) 19:31, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

I still think it may be a folk etymology. Mercury--the messenger of the gods--is one of the standard names for newspapers, like Herald and Tribune, but the theory isn't uncorroborated. —wwoods 06:27, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I put it back with a hedge. Elf | Talk 01:41, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I know this is a very old discussion but I think the explanation is pretty simple. The people who started the San Jose Mercury were thinking up a name for their paper--they had many choices: Times, Gazette, Chronicle, Tribune, Herald, Mercury, etc.--and of those they picked "Mercury" because it had a double meaning. Nohat 22:30, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

There is an interesting note about the name Murky in the Drawbridge, California article. Can anyone verify?

Pricing

I think the pricing section is a little goofy. Things get more expensive over time; there is no conspiracy. I have been exposed to the San Diego Union-Tribune and USA Today and I know both have raised their prices within the past five years. That's just how it works.

Online

The SJMN has a national presence as it is online. I seem to recall it was one of the first newspapers to go online. When did that happen? When did newspapers generally go on the 'Net? Paul, in Saudi 13:52, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

@PaulinSaudi: Indeed, it was one of the first. I added a passage about the Mercury News's early online efforts. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 04:50, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

Nickname

The paper is also commonly known as the "Murky News". Can anyone find a reference for this? 18.26.0.5 (talk) 17:26, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Request for article

• Could someone create an article for the former Publisher Jeff Kiel? Thanks! Jccort (talk) 18:14, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

1988 exposé on the Presidio Child Development Center

The paper's articles in July 1988 on the child abuse scandal at the Presidio Child Development Center, which was run by the U.S. Army, should also be mentioned in this article. __meco (talk)

File:CA SJMN.jpeg Nominated for speedy Deletion

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Revising presentation of "Dark Alliance" controversy

Gary Webb's 1996 series "Dark Alliance" was one of the most controversial stories to appear in the Mercury News, and the paper eventually published a column saying the series fell short of its standards. It would be better to present this in a separate section on "controversies" rather than drop it into the middle of the section on the paper's history. Also, the description of the paper's political tendencies previously used was from Cockburn and St. Clair's book on CIA involvement in drug smuggling, which has a chapter on "Dark Alliance." This represents their opinion, which I see no reason to regard as notable or authoritative, so I've removed it. If you disagree, please let me know why you think it is here. Rgr09 (talk) 23:22, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

More on controversies section

Oddly, this article continues to attract off-topic edits on the "Dark Alliance" series controversy. The 1998 CIA OIG report on the series' claims is presented in the Gary Webb article. If there is a problem with the presentation, please edit there, not here. Rgr09 (talk) 14:45, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

External links modified

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inaccurate characterizations of Mercury News reporters

Glad someone created this page, but....

Four people, including me, are called "political reporters." First the proper term is POLITICS reporter. No one says "Educational reporter." That beat is "education reporter."

Second, I didn't cover politics. I primarily covered government, but my job was mostly defined by geography.

Politics and government are not synonymous.

You could just refer to me and many others as reporters. You could call me San Mateo County reporter or a San Francisco Peninsula reporter.

I can send clips if someone wants verification that I covered Los Altos and later Sunyvale city government; East Palo Alt; San Mateo County government and at times local cities and school boards.

Thanks. David Cay Johnston Davidcay (talk) 17:17, 22 June 2018 (UTC)

@Davidcay: I changed the descriptions to just "reporter", as requested. For the most part, I copied the other descriptions from the respective articles, but I can make more corrections if needed. – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 10:24, 24 June 2018 (UTC)