The owners of the Star-Ledger Thursday eliminated 167 jobs at the state's largest newspaper, including a quarter of its award-winning newsroom. The move comes with the creation of NJ Advance Media, which will consolidate the operations of several newspapers and digital media in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Front page of the Star Ledger
A Star-Ledger front page, on display at the Newseum in Washington D.C. (Newseum)
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According to a report carried by the paper today and posted on NJ.com, the Star-Ledger was facing losses of $19 million this year, despite concessions recently won from the unions representing non-newsroom employees as well as the January newsroom layoffs of 34 employees.

Another 40 of the paper's remaining 156 newsroom employees were laid off Thursday, the report said, bringing the news-gathering staff down to 116 from a high of 350 five years ago. During the same period, however, smaller numbers of digital journalists have been added to NJ.com, reflecting an industry-wide trend away from newsprint to publication online.

Overall, the Star-Ledger's workforce is being reduced from 750 to 583, though none of 500 unionized positions are affected, the paper reported.

Content operations for NJ.com, the Star-Ledger and the company's three other daily newspapers, The Times of Trenton, The South Jersey Times and the Express-Times of Easton PA, will be combined within NJ Advance Media. Sales and marketing functions are to be combined as well.

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