The Kansas City Star plans to downsize its workforce by eliminating about 20 staff and slashing other similar positions at its office in Kansas City, Missouri in response to the industrywide recession. The newspaper said the cutbacks, which are expected to occur soon, are mixture of voluntary buyouts and layoffs. The Star said that impacted staff will receive severance pay and subsidized continuation of benefits.

Mark Zieman, president and publisher of the Star, attributed the job cuts to today’s poor market condition. “The recession still has a tight grip on our economy and many sectors of our advertising business are still struggling.” However, Zieman added that the newspaper is striving hard to survive given the present economic challenges. “The Star had been able to attract several new and former major advertisers in the last several weeks.”

In 2010, The Kansas City Star announced that the company would have three rounds of job cuts plus unpaid furloughs for its staff.