The News & Observer will eliminate 20 positions across its operations as the slowly recovering economy continues to hurt ad sales.

Affected employees were told Tuesday; some will have the opportunity to accept a voluntary severance package. The cuts will include five or six positions in the newsroom.

Publisher Orage Quarles III informed employees of the staff reduction in an e-mail message Tuesday.

"We continue to make our way through difficult times by making difficult decisions," he wrote. "It is never easy to say goodbye to our friends and colleagues, but we must make these additional cuts to sustain our company and adjust to economic realities."