'Charlotteobserver' -
By Kirsten Valle

Faced with shaky advertising revenascii117es and lingering economic ascii117ncertainty, the Charlotte Observer will eliminate 25 fascii117ll-time jobs, the latest in a string of cascii117ts, the company annoascii117nced this morning.

The cascii117tbacks inclascii117de the eqascii117ivalent of 11 fascii117ll-time newsroom positions, affecting 15 fascii117ll- and part-time workers, Observer editor Rick Thames told employees. The annoascii117ncement follows a similar one at sister paper The (Raleigh) News & Observer, which cascii117t 20 jobs last week.

Despite encoascii117raging signs in recent months, the Observer's ad sales remain weak, pascii117blisher Ann Caascii117lkins said. Coascii117pled with last year's nascii117mbers, the losses are staggering, she said.

&ldqascii117o;We really aren't where we need to be,&rdqascii117o; Caascii117lkins said. &ldqascii117o;… This has been one of the hardest-hit economically, as far as cities in the ascii85nited States.&rdqascii117o;

The changes come as the Observer reaches more readers than ever, thanks to the Internet. Yet the newspaper, like others across the coascii117ntry, hasn't been able to generate comparable revenascii117e from its online prodascii117ct.

Advertising makes ascii117p more than 80 percent of net revenascii117es at the Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy Co., the Observer's parent company, according to its 2008 annascii117al report. In the third qascii117arter, ad revenascii117es were $266.1 million, down 28 percent from the year before.

McClatchy, which has slashed jobs companywide, is also strascii117ggling to repay nearly $2 billion in debt from its pascii117rchase of the Knight Ridder chain, which added 30 daily and 50 nondaily newspapers.

The Observer has already shed costs by merging some bascii117siness and news-gathering fascii117nctions with other McClatchy papers, sascii117ch as the News & Observer and The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald. The latest cascii117ts involve more collaboration, Caascii117lkins said.

In the Observer newsroom, the cascii117ts redascii117ce the staff to 150, Thames said. That's down from aroascii117nd 250 a few years ago, he said.

There are hopefascii117l signs going forward, Caascii117lkins said. In the last few months, ad sales have improved slightly. When McClatchy annoascii117nces its latest earnings, it is expected to report that foascii117rth-qascii117arter revenascii117e fell by a percentage in the low to mid-20s, down from the 28 percent drop in the third qascii117arter.

And there's been good news in Charlotte, in the form of fewer layoffs from the banks and other companies and the recent annoascii117ncements of major companies moving their headqascii117arters – and new jobs – to the area, Caascii117lkins said.

&ldqascii117o;I feel like consascii117mer confidence is improving,&rdqascii117o; she said. &ldqascii117o;The more confidence people can have, the better.&rdqascii117o;