Published Thursday, April 5, 2001
Jay Harris goes on the record
BY CHRISTINA DENARDO AND ICESS FERNANDEZ
ASNE Reporter
| Jay Harris Career Highlights:
Before resigning from the San Jose Mercury News, Jay T. Harris was one of the few minority publishers of a major daily newspaper in America.
He started at the Mercury News in February 1994 as chairman and publisher. During his years there, the paper was recognized by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the best papers in the country.
He increased profits at the Knight Ridder Inc. publication and had one of the most diverse newsrooms in the industry, with minorities representing more than 30 percent of the newsroom staff.
In 1996, he broadened multicultural readership and helped create weeklies in various segments of the community. His efforts helped the Mercury News launch Nuevo Mundo, a Spanish-language weekly in 1996; Viet Mercury, a Vietnamese-language weekly, was started three years later.
After seven years as publisher, he stepped down at the Mercury News over philosophical differences involving budget practices.
He took the position that when newspaper ad revenue slows, cutbacks should not start in the newsroom.
Mr. Harris began his career in Knight Ridder as executive editor of the Philadelphia Daily News in 1985. In 1988, he became a part of the corporate staff as assistant to Tony Ridder, then president of the company’s Newspaper Division and now chairman and chief executive officer of Knight Ridder. Two years later, Mr. Harris was promoted to vice president/operations, responsible for several of the company’s newspapers.
He started his career in journalism as a reporter and editor in 1970 at the The News Journal in Wilmington, Del.
Mr. Harris was also on the faculty of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and was assistant dean of the school between 1975 and 1982.
Mr. Harris is married and has three children.
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San Jose Mercury News publisher Jay Harris said he will continue to serve the public but did not say whether it would be in journalism.
Friday, Mr. Harris will discuss the circumstance surrounding his surprising resignation from the Mercury News two weeks ago. He wouldn’t discuss it Thursday.
“What little thunder I do have I would like to keep,” he said, laughing during a Thursday evening interview in his hotel room.
As he sat in front of his laptop computer, he described why he resigned from the newspaper and discussed the effect that the declining economy and corporate pressures are having on newsrooms.
“The extent of the cuts they (Knight Ridder Inc.) were contemplating– both in the newsroom and elsewhere in the building – and the news hole – I was willing to sacrifice,” he said. “I don’t think the quality of the newspaper or the service should vary with the up and down in the economy.”
“This is really not an issue of Knight Ridder, but this is an issue about American newspapers and the service they provide to the community.”
Mercury News employees, who considered themselves family, were shocked and saddened at his resignation, Mr. Harris said.
It had been reported that an e-mail about his departure was circulated to the staff before his employers received it. But that was not the case.
“The e-mails went out after I turned in my resignation,” Mr. Harris said. “No one in the newspaper knew I was going to do it,”
Mr. Harris said he has not discussed his resignation publicly before because he didn’t want it to be about him.
“I don’t want Jay Harris to be the issue. The issue is about journalism,” he said.
Within days of his resignation, Mr. Harris said he received about 100 e-mails from around the world, expressing support. And he still receives supportive messages.
The most heartening thing was the acknowledgement from colleagues, journalists and readers recognizing the importance of the issue.
“People were really concerned about this. Journalists are concerned. Readers are concerned,” Mr. Harris, said.
But Mr. Harris remains optimistic about the future of the industry. He said he hopes the newspaper industry will recover economically.
“There was a measure of relief that the worst possible considerations were going to be avoided. I hope that in the long run, the reaction would be to use the opportunity to put out an excellent newspaper in the community,” said Mr. Harris. “What this is all about in the end is to keep the newspaper whole and to serve the Silicon Valley community.”
Mr. Harris, who helped create the original ASNE diversity survey in 1978, was disappointed to see a decline in the percentages of minority journalist in U.S. newsrooms and what it implies about the quality of newspapers.
“The issue has never been an issue of availability of talented people who want to do journalism,” Mr. Harris said. “A diverse newsroom reflects our ability to tell stories fairly and accurately.”
Mr. Harris said he believes retention rates for minority journalists dropped because newspapers may not be “nurturing” places for people with diverse backgrounds.
Mr. Harris said he had other speaking engagements lined up at Columbia and Northwestern universities. He said his career plans are uncertain at this time, but he said what is certain is a monthlong respite.
“What’s important is that we slow down, take a look at the direction in which we’re headed, consider whether that is the right direction and determine if it is not. Take steps to set the course right,” Mr. Harris said.
