NEW YORK - Advertising revenues are down 17.4 percent at McClatchy through the first 10 months of 2008, mostly due to the downturn on employment, real estate and auto markets, Gary Pruitt, the company's chairman and CEO, announced at the 36th UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference Tuesday.

In order to respond to the challenges, "McClatchy is focused on five key initiatives: improving revenue performance, especially from Internet advertising; growing total audience based on the unduplicated reach of our print and online products; providing and expanding our range of high quality public service journalism, in all channels, print and digital; permanently reducing our cost structure; and continuing to pay down debt and improving our financial position."

Online ads has been proven promising, and are "up 10.9 percent through October, way ahead of the industry average." If excluding employment advertising, which has plummeted nationally both online and in print, online advertising even grew 53.8 percent through October. "We are an industry leader in online advertising, which now represents 12.2 percent of total advertising revenues compared to 8.6 percent for all of 2007," Pruitt said at the UBS conference.

Print circulation is down, partially due to the reduction of circulation less meaningful for advertisers. However, total audience reach exceeded 71 percent of the local markets.

In the coming months, McClatchy will continue to restructure and streamline operations. "While newsprint prices currently compare unfavourably to the prior year, we believe they have peaked, and we expect them to fall as 2009 unfolds," said Pruitt.

"We approach 2009 with a strong sense of resolve. On the revenue side, the picture is decidedly mixed. Our current results are lousy, and the economy seems to be worsening."

However, Pruitt said he expects the recession to have bottomed or the economy to have revived in the second half of 2009. "We expect to see results from the initiatives we've taken to improve revenue performance. We will be working hard to narrow the rate of revenue decline in 2009," Pruitt said.