MediaNews Group Inc. announced Wednesday all non-union employees at its California papers will have to take one-week unpaid leave to help the company reduce costs as advertising sales slump, The Associated Press reported.

About 3,300 employees at more than 50 dailies and weeklies, including managers and executives, will be impacted, according to Charlie Kamen, vice president of human resources.

This mandatory one week of unpaid leave will be between Feb. 1 and March 31, according to the AP article on Forbes.

MediaNews may request its 1,100 union employees in California to take unpaid leave as well, and it is considering mandatory furloughs for employees outside of the state, Kamen said.

"We've got challenging times. The entire industry is faced with a lot of challenges," he added, according to the AP.

Many other publishers, such as Gannett, have announced unpaid furloughs and other cost-cutting actions to compensate the loss from a serious ad downturn, the AP reported.