The Oakland Tribune has a new format. It has combined local and national news into the first section and created a standalone daily business section. In other words, less wire and more local and regional news. The format mimics the Contra Costa Times, which was purchased in 2006 by the Trib’s owner, MediaNews Group, headed by Dean Singleton. The papers are now apart of the Bay Area Newspaper Group – East Bay or BANG-EB for short. Stephen Buel at the East Bay Express observes that the additional copy will come from MediaNews Group’s papers elsewhere in the Bay Area because the Trib isn’t adding staff. Buel writes:

“Smart integration of news from all its many papers has always been the promised upside of the vast merger deal that left Dean Singleton’s BANG in possession of virtually every Bay Area daily not named Chronicle. And anything that can be done to beef up the Trib’s long-anemic business coverage is certainly welcome.”