Tribune slashes Allentown Morning Call news staff

The Allentown Morning Call became the latest Tribune Co. paper to fire a large swath of journalists as profits plummet amid the current economic malaise. About 24% of the Pennsylvania newsroom, or 35 to 40 positions, will be eliminated. The layoffs bring the total of planned newsroom cuts at Tribune papers to at least 400. Randy Michaels, Tribune's chief operating officer since May, visited the Morning Call in January and told a roomful of journalists to loud applause that "the first thing we want to do is stop cutting editorial." But profits soon began to fall faster than expected. Tribune papers are being squeezed as the housing slump erodes real estate and other advertising and the Internet becomes the medium of choice for classified ads. Added to those pressures is the $8 billion in new debt that the company shouldered in a leveraged buyout last December engineered by Sam Zell.