The Ax Watch   

The buzzwords "economy" and "declining ad revenues" take more swipes at journalism jobs. In late April, Knight Ridder announced there would be cuts at most of its 32 daily papers due to declining ad dollars and more expensive newsprint. Among the losses are 45 positions at the Charlotte Observer, 3.5 percent of its staff, and 125 jobs at the Kansas City Star and four area papers for which the Star provides management oversight, or 6.7 percent of those staffs. Also, the San Jose Mercury News will lop off 120 jobs, or 8 percent of its total staff, and Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Inquirer and the Daily News, will ax 200 jobs by July 1. The papers aim to make as many cuts as possible through buyouts and early retirements before resorting to layoffs.

The 14 papers in the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group, based in Tampa, eliminated about 100 jobs, including 19 layoffs at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, three of those in the newsroom; 18 positions at Spartanburg, South Carolina's Herald-Journal, half through layoffs; 10 layoffs at Lakeland's Ledger, four of them editorial staffers; seven layoffs at the Gainesville Sun; and 15 at the Ocala Star-Banner, three of which were part-time jobs. New York's Daily News let at least 24 employees go, 15 in editorial, according to numbers compiled by union shop steward Juan Gonzalez. Manchester, Connecticut's Journal Inquirer eliminated four positions in its approximately 60-person newsroom. About the same number of people had been laid off in other departments in the past few months, says Managing Editor Chris Powell. About 100 noneditorial jobs will be shaved from Detroit Newspapers, which includes the Detroit News and Free Press, both through early retirements and layoffs. Maine's Portland Press Herald announced it would eliminate positions in various departments, but as of mid-May the paper had not revealed how many.

Minneapolis' Star Tribune gets creative in its efforts to pinch pennies. Under a Time Away from Work program, employees can ask for up to four months' unpaid leave. The paper, and parent McClatchy, says spokesman Frank Parisi, have a practice "of not using one-size-fits-all solutions to economic issues." There are no layoff plans, no newshole reductions. As of mid-May 10 people had been approved for various leaves--a savings of about $30,000, says Parisi. No requests from the newsroom had been evaluated yet.