Going Back   

David Yarnold returns to the San Jose Mercury News

David Yarnold's new job with Knight-Ridder was only 10 miles and 20 minutes away from his old post at the San Jose Mercury News, but to him it felt more like light years.

After nine months as vice president for editorial of Knight-Ridder New Media, Yarnold, 44, decided to put an end to his suffering from newsroom withdrawal and returned to the Mercury News. His new new job is actually his old job. Once again he will be the Mercury News' managing editor.

"I just missed the energy of the newsroom and the diversity of the content," he says. "I missed community journalism."

At Knight-Ridder, Yarnold worked on developing what he called a "network mentality" among the Web editors of the chain's papers, organizing semiannual meetings and setting up listservers to encourage communication. He also helped establish a fellowship program that continues to bring in top editors and managers (such as the Philadelphia Inquirer's Maxwell E.P. King) for a three-day "total immersion" in new media.

But Yarnold is more comfortable on his home turf than on the new-media frontier. "I went to school here. I grew up in the area," he says of San Jose. "I've known the Silicon Valley since before it was the Silicon Valley."

Yarnold also has a long history with the Mercury News--19 years and counting, minus nine months. He came to the paper in 1978 as a picture editor, following stints at the Associated Press and Longview, Washington's Daily News.

After his departure the Knight-Ridder paper never filled the managing editor slot. Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos says things couldn't have worked out better. Describing Yarnold as "a natural leader," he says he's "delighted" that Yarnold has returned.