McClatchy Co. plans to cut its work force by about 10% after it announced a 15 percent revenue drop in May, mostly hurt by a 17 percent decline in advertising sales, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"The effects of the current national economic downturn - particularly in real estate, auto and employment advertising - make it essential that we move faster now to realign our workforce and make our operations more efficient," according to Chief Executive Gary Pruitt.

Pruitt apologized for making "the painful announcement." However, "we're taking this action to help ensure a healthy future for our company," he added.

The move shows the industry struggling as readers and marketers shift away from print products. For McClatchy, the downturn is particularly painful as it owns large newspapers in Florida and California, states seriously hit by the real-estate recession.

The job cuts will involve about 1,400 full-time employees, and save McClatchy about $70 million each year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper publisher said it will provide severance payments as well as benefit continuation to affected employees.

According to McClatchy, it will still focus its strategies on sales, news and online operations as it realigns operations, "with decisions about the size and profile of changes differing by location," The Wall Street Journal reported.