PORTLAND — The Oregonian Media Group said Wednesday it will cut most employees’ pay for the rest of the year and require them to take additional, unpaid furloughs as the coronavirus outbreak takes a heavy toll on journalism in the state.

The company, which publishes The Oregonian newspaper and OregonLive website, said it will cut employee pay by 2% to 20% from May through December. The amount of the pay cut will depend on how much employees earn.

The media group will also require employees outside newsroom and production to take two weeks of furlough. Newsroom employees will take one week of furlough. The company is also suspending matching payments to employees’ 401(k) retirement programs from May through the end of the year.

“Our commitment to this community is unwavering. I fully expect that we will continue with the coverage levels we have demonstrated in the past couple of weeks against the backdrop of this crisis,” said John Maher, the news organization’s president.

Advance Local, parent company of Oregonian Media Group, is implementing similar cuts across the company. It also owns newspapers and websites in Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, Alabama, Pennsylvania and New York.

Most news organizations are heavily reliant on local advertising revenue, which has all but vanished during the pandemic as restaurants and stores have closed, and as concerts and other public events have shut down.

The Oregonian Media Group is especially vulnerable to the downturn in ad revenue because it is among the few, large regional papers in the country that does not charge for unlimited access to its website. The publication began voluntary digital subscriptions last week and has attracted more than 2,700 subscribers thus far.

“We understand the importance of a strong news report and we’re doing everything we can to make sure we’re able to devote resources to that,” Maher said. “But this is a business after all. It is.”

The news industry is just one piece of the broad economic calamity that has accompanied the coronavirus outbreak. One in every 8 Oregon workers has been laid off in just the past few weeks, nearly 270,000 altogether.

News organizations across Oregon — from Astoria to Eugene to Bend to Baker City — have cut jobs, furloughed workers or reduced their print run during the outbreak.

KGW (Channel 8) said last week that its parent company is requiring most employees to take a one-week furlough in April, May and June. Willamette Week cut its print run in half in March, to 25,000 copies, and said earlier this month that it has laid off five employees.

This article was originally published by The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving heath issue.