Bankrupt newspaper LA Times to cut 10 per cent of workforce

Bankrupt Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times newspaper will cut about 10 per cent of its 3,000 employees, including 70 newsroom positions, as part of a reorganisation that includes eliminating a standalone local news section.

The paper's publisher, Eddy Hartenstein, informed staff in a memo on Friday, explaining the cuts "are designed to help us deal with the economic realities of the day." "Not a day goes by that we don't give our readers the latest news and analysis on the deepening troubles of the US economy," he wrote. "The same challenges that face the companies we report about also are affecting us."

Editor Russ Stanton said in a second memo that the cuts will include a 70-position reduction across the editorial department, or 11 per cent, in the coming weeks. The paper will reduce the number of sections on 2 March, folding the California section into the front section, which includes local, national and international news, while keeping Business, Sports and Calendar as daily fixtures.

Tribune, the Chicago-based owner of the L A Times and eight other dailies, is eliminating jobs, selling assets and redesigning publications to tackle record print advertising declines and $12.5 billion in debt.

The company declared bankruptcy 8 December, less than a year after billionaire Sam Zell took the publisher private in a deal that saddled it with debt. (See: Tribune files for bankruptcy protection)

Hartenstein was named publisher in August 2008. Six months earlier, Stanton became the newspaper's fourth editor in less than three years. His predecessors James O'Shea, Dean Baquet and John Carroll left after resisting cost-cutting measures.

Zell is seeking to sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team and its Wrigley Field stadium to reduce debt. He entered into exclusive talks on the sale with Tom Ricketts, chairman of Incapital LLC this month.

Gary Weitman, a spokesman for Tribune in Chicago, said in that the job cuts were specific to the Los Angeles Times, without disclosing the amount of money that could be saved through the changes.