We thought that news and media were sectors that were impervious to most of the bad effects of the recession. That idea is apparently untrue. The Philadelphia Media Network has announced a large number of layoffs in response to “the unfortunate economic conditions that continue to impact” the industry.

The company’s official statement reads: “We believe that one employee receiving a layoff notification is too many and regret having to make such a difficult decision relative to the future of any PMN employee.”

However the news of the news company is that already four full-timers and 15 part-timers have been approved for layoffs while another 21 newsroom employees will be offered voluntary buyouts. The layoffs will come into effect at The Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com on March 31. The staff slated for layoffs includes copy editors, multimedia content producers, reporters and general office staff. The total number of lost jobs tally to 45 as five nonunion employees are also marked to join the exodus.

The PMN statement read, “Our hope was that a voluntary buyout offering would have limited the need to implement any employee layoffs, but the reality is that was not achieved and those employees receiving layoff notification will depart at the end of March.”

The Newspaper Guild Local 10, a union of local media employees, hold that the layoff plans of the company is unnecessary, and would be challenged.

In a statement released by the Guild, the union clarified “It is our position that between the significant savings of the salaries of the members who volunteered to leave and the concessionary contract in 2010 that gave the new owners $6 million in cost cuts from our union, that enough is enough.” The Guild further criticized PMN chief Greg Osberg for “trying to be seen as some sort of digital visionary” and for “creating a poorly launched tablet.”

Refuting the claims of PMN that the reason for layoffs was the bad shape of the newspaper industry, the Guild statement read, “Whether Osberg wants to admit it or not, the print editions of The Inquirer and Daily News, which he offensively labels ‘legacy products,’ are responsible for generating more than 90 percent of the revenue.”