McClatchy cutting jobs at newspapers

NEW YORK — Publisher McClatchy Co., owner of five South Carolina daily newspapers, 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.

McClatchy reported a 15.4 percent decline in ad revenues in the first five months of the year. McClatchy is the No. 3 U.S. newspaper company. In South Carolina, it owns The State in Columbia, the Myrtle Beach Sun

News, Beaufort Gazette, Island Packet on Hilton Head and Rock Hill Herald. It also owns dailies in Charlotte and Raleigh.

The State said it is speeding up plans to reduce its work force by about 12 employees, or 3 percent, according to a note Monday to workers from publisher Henry Haitz III. Nine jobs are being eliminated at the Sun News, or about 4 percent of the staff, the paper said.

The Herald said its work force would not be affected, while the Beaufort Gazette said it was operating with three fewer newsroom employees than a year ago. The Island Packet did not detail any impact.

The cuts come amid a broad retrenchment in the newspaper industry as the economic downturn and competition from online rivals such as Craigslist have resulted in a steep slump in advertising revenues.

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

McClatchy said the job cuts will be made through voluntary departures, layoffs and attrition. The company still is working to reduce debt from its $4 billion 2006 purchase of Knight Ridder. The company said it has reduced its head count by 13 percent from the end of 2006, a savings of $70 million a year.

The Post and Courier staff and Jennifer Malloy of the Associated Press contributed to this story.