Sun Media Corp. will cut 200 jobs as it tries to deal with "unprecedented changes" in the newspaper industry.

The company, which is the largest newspaper publisher in the country by number of titles with its chain of Sun papers and dozens of smaller community papers, said 50 of those cuts would be to its editorial staff.

The company last announced cuts in July, when it eliminated about 350 jobs from its 4,300-employee roster. It has cut about 1,500 positions since 2008, when its print advertising revenue began falling dramatically as advertisers found other places to put their money. The reductions have yielded results – in its last quarter, its parent-company said profit in its newspaper division increased 15 per cent due to the "impact of significant cost-containment and repositioning efforts undertaken in recent years."

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The July cuts, which included closing eight papers and three commuter papers, are expected to save the company $55-million a year.

But chief executive officer Julie Tremblay said in a statement that while difficult, deeper cuts were needed to protect the company's "leading position" in the media industry.

"It is very tough to announce job cuts," she said. "But as distressing as they are for the employees involved, these restructuring initiatives are necessary to maintain our leading position and ensure the Corporation's sustainability. We truly regret this decision's impact on the professionals who are leaving our organization. We thank each and every one of them and we wish them every success."