The scale of the crisis facing the newspaper industry was highlighted yesterday when Dublin-based British print media company Independent News & Media PLC said it plans to axe more than a fifth of its staff.

Around 90 jobs are to go at its London newspapers, the Independent and the Independent on Sunday, out of a workforce of 430. Of these, 60 will come from the papers' 230 journalists.

"It is anticipated that the final number of redundancies will number around 90, of which a sizeable number will be voluntary, and the total savings will be in excess of £10 million ($15 million)," it said, adding that the moves would come into effect by early 2009.

It is believed that most of the journalists to be axed will come from the ranks of production staff such as sub-editors, with few reporters expected to leave when the cuts are implemented early next year. Although the company said a "sizeable number" would be voluntary departures, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) called for guarantees that no one would be forced to quit.

Chief executive Sir Anthony O'Reilly, who along with associated parties, owns about 28 per cent of the group, runs Independent News & Media. The publisher is under pressure to cut costs and debt in a difficult economic climate. Shareholder Denis O'Brien, a telecommunications entrepreneur who has a 26 per cent stake, said last week that Independent News & Media should sell its UK papers because they are "destroying a good business."

Instead, the group has decided to go in for a major restructuring involving job cuts and greater integration between the two papers to save costs. Last month the company said the two London newspapers would start sharing some services with other UK publishers to cut costs and make editorial workflows more efficient. It also plans to sell its stake in Australasian radio and newspaper group APN News & Media Ltd to cut its debt by about 800 million euros ($1 billion).

"This restructuring will produce a significantly lower cost base, which will allow our titles to weather whatever storms the next few years will bring," said Ivan Fallon, CEO of the group's UK operations.

"As a management team, we would have been irresponsible had we not reacted to the economic conditions affecting every media business in the world by looking at our cost base," said Simon Kelner, the Independent's managing director. "These changes will be instrumental in helping to secure the future of these great newspapers."

The Independent is not the only newspaper making cuts in the face of what many executives say is the worst advertising downturn they can recall. Rupert Murdoch has warned of cutbacks at his News International papers, Express Newspapers is making more than half of its subeditors redundant and the Daily Mail owner DMGT is expected to unveil cuts when it announces results tomorrow.

In addition to the pressure on advertising, there is a widespread feeling the industry is in irreversible decline as readers and advertisers head online.

The Independent titles are in a particularly vulnerable position, with the lowest circulation among the UK's quality papers. Last month the Independent sold an average of 201,019 copies a day, down 16 per cent from a year ago, while the Independent on Sunday averaged 165,764, down 21 per cent.