McClatchy slashes hundreds of jobs at N.C., S.C. papers

NEW YORK (AP) _ Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. is slashing 1,400 jobs, or 10 percent of its work force, as part of an accelerating drive to cut costs as advertising revenues dwindle, the company announced Monday.

North Carolina's two largest newspapers, both owned by McClatchy, announced nearly 200 job cuts combined. The Charlotte Observer said it will cut about 11 percent of its staff, or 123 positions, including 22 newsroom jobs. The News & Observer of Raleigh said it would slash about 7 percent of its positions, or 70 jobs, including 16 newsroom employees.

"This is a painful but necessary step," News & Observer publisher Orage Quarles III said in e-mail to employees, the paper reported. "We're operating in a time of great change and challenge for our operations, for the McClatchy Company and for the newspaper industry overall."

The Sun News in Myrtle Beach is reporting that nine jobs will be eliminated in its newsroom, approximately 3.6 percent of the news organization's workforce.

McClatchy also owns South Carolina's largest newspaper, The State in Columbia. That paper is reporting that as many as 12 positions in its newsroom will be affected by the cuts. The company also owns papers in Hilton Head, Beaufort and Rock Hill.

McClatchy also reported a 15.4 percent decline in advertising revenues in the first five months of the year. McClatchy is the No. 3 U.S. newspaper company with 30 dailies, including The Miami Herald and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The cuts come amid a broad retrenchment in the U.S. newspaper industry as the economic downturn combined with competition for classified advertising from online rivals like Craigslist has resulted in a steep slump in advertising revenues.

Many other newspaper publishers have also announced job cuts and layoffs in recent months, but McClatchy's companywide cost-cutting drive marked an unusually broad and deep effort to contain costs.

McClatchy said in a statement that the job cuts will be made through a combination of voluntary departures, layoffs and attrition. The company said it has not historically used widespread layoffs to control staff size, relying instead on attrition, outsourcing and limited job cuts.

McClatchy, which is still working to reduce debt from its $4 billion purchase of Knight Ridder in 2006, said it has already reduced head count by 13 percent from the end of 2006 through April of this year.

The cited "today's more competitive media environment" for needing to move "more aggressively" to reduce its work force.

McClatchy said the decisions about where the size and form of the job cuts will differ by location in the company. McClatchy has seen the worst declines in advertising in its papers in Florida and California, where the slump in the housing market has been most severe.

The company's newspapers in Florida posted advertising declines of 22.2 percent in the year to date through May, and 22.6 percent in California, the company said in its monthly statistical report.

McClatchy said the staff cuts would save $70 million a year, part of a program to reduce overall expenses by $95 million to $100 million. It didn't specify where the other cuts would come from.

McClatchy's shares rose 5 cents to $8.20 in morning trading Monday, still close to the bottom end of their 52-week range of $7.51 to $28.73.

___

AP Business Writer Jennifer Malloy in New York contributed to this story