UPDATE 3-Houston, Atlanta newspapers cutting jobs

* Cuts hit 90 newsroom employees at each paper

* Papers cite "unprecedented" changes in business (Adds Bakersfield Californian job cuts)

By Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - The Houston Chronicle and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, two of the largest U.S. newspapers, are cutting jobs, part of a growing industry trend to deal with severe advertising revenue declines.

The Journal-Constitution, owned by privately held Cox Newspapers, will reduce its full-time news staff by about 90 people, or nearly 30 percent, it reported on its website on Wednesday. Hearst Corp's Houston Chronicle is cutting 12 percent of its staff, it said on Tuesday evening.

The Chronicle cuts include about 90 newsroom workers and 200 employees overall.

The move, announced to employees on Tuesday by Chronicle Publisher Jack Sweeney, is part of an effort to reduce costs amid unprecedented change in the newspaper industry, the paper said.

Nearly all U.S. newspapers are suffering from a dramatic drop in ad revenue. The recession aggravates budget cutbacks already under way because more people are going to the Internet to get their news for free.

The Journal-Constitution's news staff will drop to about 230 full-time positions, the paper reported. Staff members with five or more years with the company will be offered buyouts. Layoffs would follow if the paper does not reach its targeted cuts, it also reported.

Earlier this week, the Journal-Constitution laid off 48 part-time news staffers. The paper quoted Publisher Doug Franklin as saying that more newsroom restructuring and other ways to reduce costs will come during the next few weeks. Franklin said the paper wants to be profitable by 2010.

The Journal-Constitution also will eliminate distribution to seven outlying counties, which will reduce circulation by 2 percent. That also will result in 107 full- and part-time job cuts in circulation, the paper reported.

Of the more than 1,400 daily papers in the United States, the Chronicle and Journal-Constitution are among the 25 most widely circulated.

The Chronicle is the ninth-largest U.S. newspaper by weekday circulation and the seventh-largest by Sunday circulation, according to the U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations. The Journal-Constitution is the 22nd-largest by weekday circulation and the 13th largest on Sundays.

The announcements come shortly after Miami Herald publisher McClatchy Co (MNI.N) announced its third round of staff cuts in the past year. Separately, the independently owned Bakersfield California said on Wednesday that it would cut about 12 percent of its staff.

Other publishers, including New Orleans Times-Picayune owner Advance Publications and USA Today publisher Gannett Co Inc (GCI.N), are furloughing employees and reducing daily circulation of their print editions at some papers.

Last week, Hearst eliminated the print edition of its ailing Seattle Post-Intelligencer, moving it online. Hearst also has said it would close the San Francisco Chronicle unless it gets significant concessions from its unions, including the ability to cut staff.

Cox, owner of the Journal-Constitution, had been trying to sell papers in Colorado, North Carolina and Texas, but few potential bidders have surfaced for most papers on the market because they are unwilling to buy an asset with dim prospects.

While the New York Times Co (NYT.N) and the Copley Press were able to make newspaper sale deals in recent days, EW Scripps Co (SSP.N) closed the Rocky Mountain News after failing to find what it considered a suitable buyer. Hearst's shuttering of the Post-Intelligencer happened after a similar search. (Reporting by Robert MacMillan in New York and S. John Tilak in Bangalore; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Dave Zimmerman)