New York Times's Bay Area Section To End

The Gray Lady's about to get less Bay.

Bay Area readers will get less local news in their New York Times later this month, when the newspaper stops publishing content from local news startup The Bay Citizen.

The Bay Citizen, started two years ago with millions in seed money from the late investor and banjo-player Warren Hellman, ran breaking news online and eight longer-length news stories in the Friday and Sunday sections of the New York Times. That arrangement ends April 29, when the Berkeley-based Center for Investigative Reporting takes control of the Bay Citizen's staff and assets, according to reports.

Management staff at the Bay Citizen is expected to get much thinner, with the interim CEO and two managing editors slated to depart. Other "involuntary" layoffs are expected, as the Bay Citizen's staff assimiliates into the CIR's.

The CIR produces and sells stories to other outlets in the Bay Area, all of which compete with the New York Times, so the relationship was not long for the world.

An executive from the CIR said that "exclusivity" was important to the Times, and not to CIR. A rep from the Times countered, saying that the CIR never explored running content in the Times. So there's that.

Former Chronicle and Examiner editor in chief Phil Bronstein is now head of the new organization, which has a budget of about $10 million annually and a staff of 70. The CIR has announced creation of a YouTube "investigative news channel," so Bay Area readers won't have to go far for their news fix.

Just not the New York Times.