Editor & Publisher is reporting that the Newark Star-Ledger, facing a 25% decline in ad revenues, is offering another round of buyouts. This is on the heels of a similar effort last year, various consolidation efforts with the Bergen Record, and an initial devastating round of buyouts that cost the paper 40% of its staff two years ago.

Rutgers fans have no love lost for the paper, owing to an inaccurate 2008 series of articles in the publication that misrepresented facts about the school's athletic athletic department. That sentiment is fair, if not deserved, but that doesn't mean it's right to cheer the prospect of people losing their jobs. No one should shed a tear for media conglomerates like Advance or Gannett though, especially since those parent companies would have to take on far more in the way of losses to be in any serious jeopardy.

The S-L's Sports Desk had nothing to do with the pieces. The persons who deserve blame for that fiasco are political reporters Ted Sherman and Josh Margolin, former S-L editor Jim Willse, and one specific source that was determined to oust Robert Mulcahy as the Rutgers athletic director. Any further, non-targeted hostility is ill-placed, unfair, and off-putting.

The Ledger will undoubtedly survive this latest round of cost cutting, but at a significant price. While still a good paper, it was better with the likes of Alan Sepinwall and Dan Graziano on staff. It's hard to imagine any positive outcome from shedding more skilled personnel.