Our sister blog in the Bay Area, BayNewser, has been tracking The New York Times‘ Bay Area metro report that will be included in its Northern California editions on Fridays and Sundays, starting today.

Reports BayNewser:

“It will start with content written by Times‘ staffers and assorted contributors, and will focus on public affairs, culture and Bay Area lifestyles. The Times already has a 10-person San Francisco news bureau.

It will really get interesting when the paper fulfills its goal of partnering with one or more local journalism organizations in an effort to build a cooperative news outlet, something that will likely happen within the year. Warren Hellman‘s Bay Area News Project has been one of those organizations rumored to be in the mix.”

PaidContent also has an interview with Times GM Scott Heekin-Canedy about the Bay Area push. “In doing this, we have reason to believe that it will strengthen our subscriber retention, perhaps result in a little bit of circulation growth, but we don’t have big ambitions there,” he said, adding, “by itself, it’s not going to be a reason to purchase the Times or subscribe to the Times.”

New York Times Bay Area Edition Rolling Out Friday –BayNewser