The McClatchy Co. (NYSE:MNI) CEO Gary Pruitt said the newspaper company expects the advertising environment to continue to be weak. The Sacramento, Calif.-based firm projects second-quarter revenue to be somewhat better than first-quarter advertising revenue. The newspaper company’s first-quarter ad revenue slumped 17% to $128.4 million compared with $154.4 million a year ago. Pruitt made the comments during an afternoon conference call.

In 2008, Pruitt said the company will focus its efforts in four main areas. First, improving revenue performance with particular attention to Internet advertising is a goal. The second objective is to provide high-quality public service journalism in both print and online. The third aim is to grow McClathy’s audience. Fourth, McClatchy plans to reduce and restructure its costs.

“We are working hard to position the company to benefit from a stronger economy once it turns,” Pruitt said. “Given the revenue trends, we’re simply going to have to reduce costs and we do believe we can sustain a good record on cost throughout this year. We face increasing newsprint prices later in the year, but on the . . .

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