Michael Bazeley, who worked at the San Jose Mercury News for 11 years, writes (prematurely, it is hoped) the paper’s obituary.

Managers from parent company Media News will continue to downsize the editorial staff until it’s down to several dozen people. (It’s at about 200 FTEs now, and will be 170 after Friday. New publisher Mac Tully has told the staff that downsizing could continue for the next 18-24 months.) They’ll consolidate the copy and design desks with their other Bay Area papers. They’ll work aggressively to get rid of union representation so they can bring salaries and benefits down to the substandard wages they are paying at their non-union papers. That will drive away whatever senior reporters are left, except those who are close to retirement (most of them are gone already) or who cannot find work elsewhere. And it will turn the paper into a waystation for young reporters looking to hone their skills and pad their resumes until something better comes along (being a mid-tier paper, that was already the case to some degree). The quality of the product will suffer.

Also, Ryan Sholin's advice: "So change. Or die."

Incidentally, the Merc reported today that enough employees took buyouts to avert layoffs.

Update: As Ashley points out, that story, though posted on the Merc's site, was from the Contra Costa Times and actually referred to other Bay Area publications owned by Media News Group. The Merc today laid off 15 in the newsroom and 19 from other departments.

» RIP Mercury News [Media Grunt: Michael Bazeley]