LA Times to cut news staff by 10 percent

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Times plans to cut 75 jobs, or 10 percent of its news staff.

The cuts are comparable in scale to some that the Times made on the business side of its operations last week, Editor Russ Stanton told employees in an e-mail message that the Times posted on its website on Monday.

"The growing economic downturn is forcing us to undergo another round of job reductions and cost cuts," Stanton wrote. "I appreciate your patience, understanding and cooperation during this difficult period."

It is the second round of news staff layoffs since a previous round was announced in July. The paper has offered buyouts and has cut back staff levels in its news operations from a high of some 1,200 a bit less than a decade ago.

The Times is the largest daily paper owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co, which also publishes The Sun in Baltimore, the Hartford Courant and the Orlando Sentinel. It also is one of the largest U.S. papers, with circulation of about 780,000.