Miami Herald to cut staff 17 percent

Miami -- The Miami Herald Co. said Monday it would eliminate 250 full-time jobs due to declining circulation and revenues.

The cutback includes 190 currently filled positions, publisher David Landsberg said.

"This is a painful but necessary step,'' Landsberg told employees in a company e-mail message, the newspaper reported.

The McClatchy Co., which owns the newspaper, extended newsroom staff job buyout offers in April, but only four staff members took the deals, the paper said.

The 250 jobs cut reduces the newspaper's staff by 17 percent. It wasn't announced what specific jobs would be cut.

The last large cut in staff occurred in 2001, when Knight Ridder owned the newspaper and trimmed the workforce by 10 percent, reducing the headcount to 1,600 employees, the newspaper reported.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.