San Jose Mercury Apparently Steals Independent Media Newsracks | The Source Weekly - Bend

San Jose Mercury Apparently Steals Independent Media Newsracks

San Jose Mercury caught with dozens of independent media racks in a garbage bin on its property.

In an indication of how threatening independent news sources are to daily newspapers, the San Jose Mercury recently rounded dozens of newspaper racks belonging to independent media in the bay area.

The racks were discovered Wednesday in a large garbage bin on San Jose Mercury property, according to a story from San Jose Inside, an online news source.

Mercury officials claimed in a Wednesday news release they were asked by local authorities to round up the racks, including attractive new red ones belonging to the San Jose alternative weekly Metro, because the placement of the racks did not comply with a new rack ordinance.

That sounded like a whole lot of bullshit to Metro staff who actually sued the San Jose Mercury in the ‘90s but settled with the daily after it agreed, in part, not to interfere with Metro distribution. The Metro later sued the Merc again and received a written promise in 2004 from Mercury staff that they would stop messing with Metro racks, according to the San Jose Inside story.

Wow, San Jose Mercury. Just wow.