He is a self-described "journalistic traditionalist" and stepped down as publisher as a statement about how the newspaper industry's emphasis on profits was harming its public mission.
Jay Harris then presented a speech, in which he made clear that he was urging editors to put readers first, which was his target from the beginning.
After Harris's resignation, the pressure was on the San Jose Mercury News to show it was preserving quality and in that same year they added 30 new journalists to help out with Silicon Valley when it became popular.
[8] Jay T. Harris was working at his school newspaper while in college but didn't consider a career in journalism until he was hired by Fred Hartmann, editor Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida, for a summer internship.
[3] Jay Harris is credited with expanding the San Jose Mercury News coverage of an increasingly diverse population.
However, it was his eagerness to grow the business division to cover the internet insurgency that helped the paper's notoriety and earned him fans in the newsroom.
[8] Harris was hailed as the country's top African-American publisher of a daily paper and was known for his support for newsroom diversity.
[5] After Harris's resignation, Knight Ridder tried to assure Mercury News workers that it would like to stay away from cutbacks and layoffs in order to cover Silicon Valley.
[14] Jerome Ceppos, Knight Ridder's vice president for news, responded by pointing out that the Knight-Ridder staff had been increased to 403 writer but would see a decline in about 10 to 15 positions in the next year.