'St. Louis Post-Dispatch' Laying Off 39, With 14 in Newsroom

By: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is laying off 39 employees, including 14 in the newsroom.

The others are in operations, advertising and finance departments.

Publisher Kevin Mowbray said in a story Thursday at the STLtoday.com that the layoffs result from a fall in advertising revenue caused by the recession.

The Post-Dispatch is owned by Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, whose stock has declined since it bought Pulitzer Inc. in 2005. Pulitzer previously owned the Post-Dispatch.

The newspaper announced 20 layoffs in September in production, marketing and the newsroom, and 31 layoffs last March ? none from the news department.

In September 2007, 60 Post-Dispatch employees took early retirement. And in 2005, about 130 employees accepted buyouts, including 40 in the newsroom.