Nancy Pelosi’s letter urging the Department of Justice to consider the consolidation of the Bay Area’s newspapers was welcomed by MediaNews Group chief executive Dean Singleton, whose company owns the Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and nine other Bay Area dailies.

“For newspapers in some markets to survive, there will need to be some consolidations,” Singleton told the Merc’s Pete Carey, “and I think what Speaker Pelosi is saying is it’s time for the Justice Department to join the 21st century and realize that newspapers are one small piece of the competitive landscape.”

Singleton said there are no discussions between MediaNews and Hearst, the Chronicle’s owner, beyond some joint distribution.

But, he added, “if you look at the economics of the Bay Area News Group — which operates this paper and the Mercury News — and the Chronicle, it would seem that might be a smart thing to do, to do more consolidation.”