Tribune Co. cuts as well

Gee, what gives? On Thursday it was Gannett and on Friday the Tribune Co. eliminated 40 newsroom positions from the Chicago Tribune. It's the second cut of 40 employees in the last few weeks, so 80 total have been let go this month.

These job cuts were expected - the company announced they were coming in July - but at least 10 more people than anticipated have been laid off, according to Chicago Business.

Here's a troubling stat: The Chicago Tribune had 670 employees in 2005, but it is now down to just 480, according to the Tribune report sourced above. That's a drop of more than 28 percent of the workforce.

My take: it certainly isn't good news for the company, but as stated earlier, this development was expected. However, coupled with the Gannett news from Thursday, it's definitely a very difficult week for newspapers to say the least. If cutbacks continue at this pace, you have to wonder at what point the quality starts dropping significantly at these publications. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.