The Honolulu Advertiser is laying off 54 workers, joining a growing list of newspapers nationwide that have been forced to cut jobs in the wake of a weakening economy and loss of advertising to the Internet.

The state's largest newspaper said the cuts represent 6.8 percent of its payroll of 799 full-time and part-time workers.

"We do not take this action lightly," said Advertiser Publisher Lee Webber in a news release. "But we are not immune to the national trends affecting the newspaper industry, nor from the downturn in our local economy."

Webber said the company needed to tighten its belt to survive tough times and bring operating costs in line with current conditions. The newspaper remains committed to producing a quality product, he said.

The cuts include three full-time and one part-time newsroom staffers. Of the 54 people laid off, nine were part-time workers.

"As the economy improves, we will grow with it," Webber's e-mail read.

OTHER PAPER CUTS

The move came as other newspapers nationally have reduced staff to cope with falling sales, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.

About 4,500 newspaper positions have been eliminated industrywide since the start of the year.

"It's an enormously sad time in the nation's newspaper industry," said Bryce Nelson, journalism professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communications.

"The problem is the economy is in a bad state and is not producing the type of advertising that has sustained newspapers in the past," Nelson said.

The Advertiser had taken other steps to reduce costs, including offering early retirements to 32 employees in June.

The last layoffs came in 1998, when The Advertiser eliminated three maintenance positions.

The latest cuts follow a string of layoffs announced by other local employers.

In the past week, two Big Island hospitals announced they were eliminating 114 positions, and in June the Bishop Museum said it was letting go 14 employees.

The March 31 shutdown of Aloha Airlines resulted in the loss of more than 1,900 jobs in the state's largest-ever mass layoff. A week before Aloha's shutdown, Molokai Ranch announced it was closing, leaving 120 without jobs.

Hawai'i's unemployment rate climbed to 3.5 percent in May from 2.5 percent a year earlier.

UNIONS SURPRISED

News of the layoffs took leaders of the newspaper's unions by surprise.

Wayne Cahill, administrative officer of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild, which represents 375 Advertiser employees, said he met with management representatives during contract negotiations on Tuesday but was given no hint of the layoffs.

Cahill said he wants to make sure that the layoffs were made according to the terms spelled out in the union contract. The Advertiser's unionized employees have been working under an extension of a three-year contract that was set to expire in June 2007.

The people affected included award-winning and longtime editorial cartoonist Dick Adair.

Established in 1856, The Advertiser is the state's largest newspaper with a daily circulation of 140,000 on weekdays and 150,000 on Sunday.

The Advertiser is owned by Gannett Co., a McLean, Va.-based company that is the nation's largest newspaper publisher.

Yesterday, Gannett reported second-quarter net income fell 36 percent as advertising sales from USA Today and its 84 other newspapers retreated from year-earlier levels.

Gannett Chief Executive Officer Craig Dubow told analysts and investors on a conference call that "the economy is tough and could be for the foreseeable future."

The news resulted in Gannett's shares falling to their lowest level since 1990 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Dubow, while noting the difficult environment for newspapers, said the current situation should not overshadow the company's progress in transforming the company into a world-class digital business while making enhancements to its newspaper and television operations.

As such, Gannett has been building up its Internet business. Locally, The Honolulu Advertiser Web site has been growing and is now the largest online news site in Hawai'i with the most page views and unique visitors.