Phila papers to cut 16%

The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News will slash 16 percent of their newsroom staffs through buyouts or layoffs this year, their publisher said yesterday.

The announcement by Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., a division of Knight Ridder Inc., came as the New York Times and the Boston Globe also announced job cuts, making it a dismal day of economic news for U.S. newspapers struggling in the Internet age.

"We are facing, I believe, a revolution in our industry. We are going to have to fight our way through the fear and anxiety," The Inquirer's editor, Amanda Bennett, told a solemn staff.

PNI publisher Joe Natoli described the cuts as a last resort for two newspapers confronting a steady drop in revenue and circulation as well as rising expenses.

He said PNI intended to reduce the number of unionized Inquirer newsroom employees by about 75, or 15 percent, to reach a level of 425 positions - roughly the staff level as in the early 1980s, according to officials of Local 10 of the Newspaper Guild.

The Daily News aims to cut its unionized staff by about 25, or 19 percent, to 105 positions. That would leave it at less than half the size at its peak in the early 1980s, according to former editor Zack Stalberg.

Nonunion managers may receive voluntary buyouts on a "case-by-case" basis, Natoli said.

The move focuses on editorial employees, who gather news and information. It excludes advertising, circulation, production and other employees; those departments have already faced cuts, Natoli said.

"It'll be like watching somebody bleed to death as people consider leaving," said David O'Reilly, 57, an Inquirer staff writer for 24 years.

Click on the headline above to read the full story available for a limited time.