The merger of most of the Bay Area’s daily newspapers into one company will be a disaster for readers, with a homogenization of content and the elimination of any true independent press, warned SF Bay Guardian Editor Tim Redmond during a panel discussion last night titled “The Coming Media Monopoly; Concentration of Press Ownership and Its Effects on Democracy.” According to a report by Beyond Chron, a pro-renter alternative online daily in SF, Redmond said he feared “all Bay Area reporters working in one single newsroom, all using the same approach and attitude.” The counterpoint was given by Stephen Buel, editor of the East Bay Express, which is owned by the New Times chain of alt-weeklies. Buel said the New Times acquision of his paper allowed him to hire a larger staff, purchase new computers and rent a larger place to work. “In the past year, I’ve seen members of an alternative weekly buy houses in the Bay Area, and I think that’s cool.”