NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Two of the most respected  US newspaper publishers, The Washington Post Co and The New  York Times Co, are embarking on new cost cuts in the face of  dramatic declines in advertising revenue.

The Times said it laid off 100 workers and is cutting  non-union salaries. It is also asking unionized employees to  accept similar concessions to avoid layoffs in the newsroom.

The Post is offering a new round of buyouts to newsroom,  production and circulation employees, and said it could not  rule out laying off staff.

“This was a very difficult decision to make,” said a memo  signed by Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr and Chief  Executive Janet Robinson. “The environment we are in is the  toughest we have seen in our years in business.”

The moves come as a host of other U.S. newspaper publishers  have reduced staff, declared bankruptcy or shuttered  once-vaunted newspapers, as readers seek news online and  elsewhere and as the recession crimps advertising spending.

Non-union employees at the New York Times and the Boston  Globe would get a 5 percent pay cut for nine months, along with  10 days off. At other units, including the company’s Worcester,  Massachusetts, newspaper, the amounts would be a 2.5 percent  pay cut and five days off.

The Times has laid off workers before, including 500 at a  newspaper and magazine distribution unit that it closed. It  also held buyouts in its newsroom last year and laid off a  small number of employees there.