I'm assuming by now you've read all the rumors about what will be happening to the Deseret News. Now it's time to hear the truth. (Changes at the Deseret News announced)

There is no sugar-coating the bad news. Like a lot of other newspapers in America, this one has to cut costs, and that means cutting people; real people with bills to pay and families to feed; people I've grown to love and respect through many years (I've been here since 1986).

The problem isn't a lack of readership. Far from it – print circulation is holding steady and on-line circulation is booming. Readership grew by 20 percent in 2009, the best of any paper in the country.

No, the problem is the Internet has sapped ad sales. It has put a big dent in the business model that has sustained newspapers for more than two centuries, and that's a permanent change.

So here are the awful numbers: 57 full-time and 28 part-time employees got pink slips today. That's 43 percent of the paper's workforce. Several of them will be asked to remain for a few months to help the paper transition, but then they will be let go.

As tough as it is to say goodbye to good people, the truth is the newspaper faced a choice familiar to papers everywhere – either cut people and reinvent yourself or cease to exist. And this paper definitely intends to exist, and thrive, for a long time. It's also reinventing itself unlike any other paper.

For those of us remaining, there is a big silver lining to this storm cloud.