No more guarantees

Newspaper employees in the Advance Publications chain had largely been shielded from layoffs, but the pink slips may soon be at their doors. Steve Newhouse, whose family owns the company, told employees today that Advance will no longer honor its "no-layoffs" pledge and warned that job cuts could hit in early 2010.

From Editor & Publisher:

"It was not a pledge that applied to the kind of transitional moment in the newspaper industry that is basically struggling to survive," [Newhouse] said, noting it only applied to the company's daily newspapers.

The end of the no-layoff pledge follows last year's string of buyouts at many Advance papers, including more than 200 at The Star-Ledger, as well as furloughs implemented at most of the dailies this year.

Advance publishes 20 newspapers, including The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.; The Oregonian in Portland, the Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance and The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

Layoffs, pay cuts at Oregonian

The cost-cutting announced today at the Newhouse newspapers has hit the Portland Oregonian particularly hard. According to the editor's blog, staffers will see their paychecks reduced by between 5 and 10 percent, with three top editors taking cuts of 15 percent. Staffers will also be forced to take four days of unpaid leave between May and September and have their pensions frozen. Additionally, the paper laid off 24 part-time workers and reassigned 28 others, and is making "significant" but unspecified changes to its circulation and distribution operations.