BANGOR – Responding to industrywide trends of declining circulation and advertising sales, the Bangor Daily News Thursday announced that it was forced to lay off 11 employees.

In announcing the layoffs, which were felt through the company, BDN Publisher Richard Warren explained that “Like many newspapers across the country, we have felt the impact of decreasing circulation and advertising lineage combined with increasing expenses of the past several years. While we have implemented many cost-containing measures to meet these challenges, a layoff has become unavoidable.”

The BDN has offered extended severance packages, including severance pay and extended health care coverage, according to Warren, “to assist affected employees during this difficult transition.”

Executive Editor Mark Woodward said the layoffs were “deep and painful, but we all understand this was done out of economic necessity. We’ve lost many longtime colleagues and friends. In each case, the colleagues who were affected conducted themselves professionally.”

Going forward, Woodward said, “We’ve lost good people, but we’ll work together as a staff to determine how we continue to cover the people, events and geography of central and northern Maine.” He said staff reductions have resulted in vacancies in some BDN bureaus, and addressing that and other issues will be part of those larger discussions by the editorial department staff.