The staff is believed to have been notified of the cuts Thursday, with sources adding that the areas affected by layoffs include departments at the MTV Music Group channels, including MTV and VH1. It also is believed that the cuts affected MTV Networks employees working in business operations and human resources.

It's not clear how high in the executive ranks the layoffs reached, but sources said they went at least to the VP level and that it doesn't appear that another round of layoffs is imminent.

Zuckerman and co-publisher Jeffrey Epstein said that "the current economic environment - primarily reflected in the magazine's lack of advertising traction - no longer makes it feasible to continue publishing," according to a statement released by a Radar spokeswoman.

Radar's roughly 50 employees were told late Wednesday afternoon, and a follow-up meeting would be held on Thursday, spokeswoman Donna Dees said.

The magazine's editor in chief, Maer Roshan, said in a statement that "in just a few short months" Radar and its Web site broke news and published "groundbreaking stories."

Radar's last issue, "The Scary Issue," featured 371 of what the magazine dubbed the most frightening things of the year and a piece by former Los Angeles Times columnist Norah Vincent about dressing as a man for 18 months. A book on Vincent's experiences is due out in January.

an increasingly common development for one major print medium--newspapers--and now they may be becoming a factor for another: magazines. Time Inc., the world's largest publisher of consumer magazines, Tuesday announced a restructuring of its business operations--laying off 105 employees, including high-profile managers such as corporate Ad Sales Chief Jack Haire, Time magazine President Eileen Naughton, and Richard Atkinson, executive vice president in charge of Time Inc.'s news and information group. But unlike the staff reductions taking place at major newspapers such as The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, the Time Inc. cuts are mainly on the business side. Less than 20 of Time Inc. layoffs affect its editorial department.

Chicago Tribune Editor Ann Marie Lipinski explained the newspaper's decision to eliminate 28 editorial positions and other cost-cutting measures today in an e-mail to staff first posted at Jim Romenesko's media blog.

As previously reported, the Tribune is closing the New City News Service, "an operation that grew out of a storied Chicago journalism tradition," eliminating the multi-media operation as it currently exists, and taking WomanNews from a stand-alone section to a weekly chapter of Tempo. Additionally, some of the paper's periodic Features special sections will be eliminated, staffing and coverage in the paper's Business features section will be scaled back, two photo positions associated with some of that content will be eliminated, and certain research and support staff functions will be eliminated.

"A net of 28 positions related to this work is being eliminated by the end of the year," Lipinksi wrote. "Our colleagues leaving the company will be offered separation pay, benefits and outplacement services. Some may wish to apply for other staff positions as they occur."

As painful as last Wednesday?s round of layoffs was for nine full-time staffers of The City Paper, it was a paper fat with workers, particularly given both the volume and the impact of its daily product, which has been running about 24 pages a day, a good chunk of it wire copy.

The paper, which turned five years old Nov. 1, has been working with a consultant for the last four months, City Paper general manager Kim Council says, and the verdict for the tab that is both innocuous and endearing-and which has yet to record a profit-was that it must cut costs and try to live within its means. Gone are senior editor Kathleen Kemper and some writers for the business, lifestyle and sports sections, though several staffers on the receiving end of the axe were offered freelance positions.

Today, newspapers are known to carry nothing but yesterday's old news with fresh ink. They are commonly treated like unnecessary fuel for our recycling bins. This mighty medium of the classy period of the print-society is gasping for the last breath in the cyber-society of today.

The Hartford Courant is eliminating about 25 positions through attrition, voluntary buyouts, layoffs and leaving open jobs unfilled, according to a memo distributed Thursday.

In an e-mail to Courant staff, publisher Jack Davis said a similar step toward reducing expenses for 2006 was taken in early October. Fourteen employees were affected.

"However, given ongoing competitive media pressure and disappointing financial results, we need to achieve additional expense reductions if we are to remain as strong as possible in 2006 and beyond," Davis said in the e-mail.