Miami Herald president named publisher of San Jose Mercury News.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Joe Natoli, president of The Miami Herald Publishing Co. since July 1994, was appointed Tuesday as publisher of The San Jose Mercury News, also a Knight Ridder newspaper.

Natoli, 45, replaces Jay T. Harris, who resigned as Mercury News publisher March 19 to protest profit targets Knight Ridder had set for the San Jose, Calif., newspaper despite a slowdown in the Silicon Valley economy.

Natoli, whose appointment was effective immediately, literally grew up at The Herald. He first set foot in the paper's bayside headquarters as a 15-year-old in 1970. Natoli was visiting his father, Frank, who had taken a job as an accountant at the newspaper after moving the family to South Florida from New York.

Five years later, Natoli took his first part-time position at the paper. He has …