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The Salt Lake Tribune on Monday laid off five newsroom employees to cope with falling advertising revenue and further weakness in the economy.
The layoffs were effective immediately.
They reduce the number of newsroom staffers to 143, Editor Nancy Conway said.
"We are intricately intertwined with the economy, and it's been a tough go," she said.
Conway said she made the decision to lay off the employees in conjunction with Tribune Publisher William Dean Singleton.
"The reality is, in business you have to make tough decisions to stay healthy and viable," Conway said.
Conway said the layoffs were not related to the appointment last week of John Paton, who replaced Singleton as CEO of MediaNews Group, the Denver-based newspaper chain that owns more than 50 dailies, including The Tribune.
In January, Singleton announced he would step down from the top management job at MediaNews as soon as he and the board of directors found his successor.
Singleton remains chairman of the company and Tribune publisher, as well as chairman of The Associated Press.
Advertising revenue at U.S. newspapers is down almost 8 percent this year and is expected to drift lower by the end of 2011, media analyst Ken Doctor said.
Conway said she does not anticipate more layoffs.
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