New Orleans Times Picayune Announces Staff Cuts

In what he's calling a "painful transition," the editor of the New Orleans Times Picayune newspaper announced the layoffs of half the paper's news staff as the daily moves its printing operations to just three days a week.

The reductions will eliminate 84 of the company's 169 newsroom staff. The layoffs are effective Sept. 30.

Advance Publications, the newspaper's parent company, says it will form a new company called NOLA Media Group. It will oversee the newspaper and its website, NOLA.com.

In a video message on the website, editor Jim Amoss says the company will move be "digitally focused," and will give priority to New Orleans politics, culture, food, music, and sports.