Editor's note: An earlier version of this story did not include comment from U-T San Diego. It also erroneously reported that the Encinitas Advocate launched in April and failed to note several local papers that U-T San Diego does not own. The Coast News is a weekly newspaper that covers North San Diego County’s coastal cities, from Del Mar to Oceanside. It is one of the remaining community papers in the region not bought up by developer Doug Manchester, publisher of U-T San Diego.
At a time when newspapers are competing for scarce advertising dollars, Coast News publisher Jim Kydd said he’ll launch an inland edition of the paper, starting Friday. He said he decided to expand to Escondido, San Marcos and Vista in response to actions by U-T San Diego, which he described as being "in full attack mode.”
“The U-T is starting a weekly newspaper in Encinitas where I’ve been for 27 year and am firmly entrenched,“ said Kydd said, at his office overlooking Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. “So I thought if we moved out over there and gained more readers, that we would have a more solid foundation as a group.“
Kydd’s Coast News Group also publishes the The Rancho Santa Fe News. The newspaper group's website says it offers advertisers more than 80,000 potential clients, 78 percent of whom do not read U-T San Diego.
Coast News editor Tony Cagala said his reporting staff has not expanded with the new edition but is energized by the challenge of keeping the local paper alive.
“It still has a community news feel to it,” he said. “People like to see themselves in the newspaper. They want to know what their government officials are doing, so that’s what we are going to continue to do: bring those stories to light.“
The U-T's Manchester bought and then discontinued the North County Times in 2012. He purchased eight weekly community papers last year, and in April the launch of an Encinitas weekly was announced. The first printed editions of the Encinitas Adovocate are being delivered today.
Jeff Light, Editor of UT San Diego, told KPBS in an email that the UT does not have a monopoly.
"Among the papers we do not own are the La Jolla Village News, the Peninsula Beacon, The Beach & Bay Press, the Mission Valley News, the Clairemont Times, the Coronado Eagle & Journal, the Chula Vista Star-News, along with El Latino San Diego and many other ethnic publications and local news Web sites."
