In a Q&A with USA Today, McClatchy chairman Gary Pruitt sheds some light on why he didn’t want KR’s Bay Area newspapers. On Monday, Pruitt told analysts that he only wanted to keep high-growth newspapers, but Pruitt tells USA Today that he didn’t want to buy the Mercury News. He didn’t elaborate on his problems with the Merc (after all, he’s now going to have to sell it to somebody) but went on to say “when we decided to divest San Jose, it didn’t make sense to keep the others,” referring to the Contra Costa Times, Palo Alto Daily News group and Monterey Herald. Tony Ridder, in an interview with Pete Carey of the Mercury News said he was “stunned” to hear that McClatchy was going to sell San Jose, Contra Costa and Monterey. Ridder said he wanted to see if there was a way he could get San Jose and Contra Costa back into the McClatchy fold. “But they wouldn’t budge on that,” he said. Contra Costa Times publisher John Armstrong issued a statement saying he regrets McClatchy’s decision to resell his paper. [Possible buyers of KR’s Bay Area papers listed] [Analyst says McClatchy is “keeping the cream of the crop”]