The company, which publishes the Eastern Daily Press, Norwich Evening News and associated websites, is seeking 54 redundancies out of the 179 people in its editorial department.

It also announced it plans to implement a new editorial system in the coming months which will enable journalists to create and publish copy for both print and web use.

Archant Norfolk says the new system will enable it to move towards a single news team supplying content for all its print and web brands - a model that has already been adopted at its sister company in Suffolk.

The announcement was made to staff this afternoon in a briefing held at Norwich City Football Club.

Managing director Stephan Phillips said in a company statement: "The newspaper sector is not immune to the general downturn in the economy and we have to make tough decisions about staffing levels like many other businesses.

"We have reduced staff numbers in our other departments such as marketing and advertising sales recently and editorial has not been subject to any major review in the last two years.

"We regret we now have to look at our editorial numbers and will enter into a consultation period with the staff involved.

"The commitment to a new editorial system, which is an investment in the region of £2 million, was started by Archant over a year ago. It will provide a new way of working, enabling greater online interaction with our readers and it will improve productivity across all our titles," he added.