San Jose Inside's company parent, Metro, picked up some newspaper siblings this week when it acquired the Gilroy Dispatch, Morgan Hill Times, Hollister Free Lance and Good Times in Santa Cruz.

Accountant Sharon Ryan takes over as president and publisher of the media consolidation monster that is Bay Area News Group this month as lines blur further between previously distinct publications. Last month, Silicon Valley Community Newspapers—a once-independent group of weekly papers that fell into the hands of the San Jose Mercury News—announced it was going to an “all access model.” This exciting new development was billed to readers as a way to have all the news in all formats, a media smorgasbord of sorts. But is it actually good for the local state of journalism?