They say the first cut is the deepest, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt as bad. Tribune Co. plans to cut as many as 250 jobs at its two largest papers, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Up to 150 Times employees will be eligible for a voluntary buyout, while an unspecified number could find their exit less voluntary, a Times official said. Another 100 Chicago Tribune jobs will be eliminated through buyouts and layoffs, a spokeswoman for the newspaper confirmed on Monday.

Here’s what Times publisher David Hiller told employees in a memo on Monday: “We also have to look at our staffing levels again, as painful as it is, and as many times as we have done it before. The fact is we have to take actions to keep staffing in line with the revenue picture, which currently is falling in the core print business.”

And here’s an excerpt from another memo from Times editor James O’Shea: “I did not come here to preside over a decline of this great newspaper. I consider the loss of each and every journalist or employee in this company a failure. I guarantee you I have worked extremely hard to minimize any staff reduction. I will also guarantee you that I will work just as hard in the future to avoid another day like this.”

O’Shea also took a stand for the rank-and-file who have apparently been asking him about Tribune executives and the millions in bonuses they are getting for completing an $8.2 billion transaction to take the company private and larded with debt: “A number of you have asked me how we could cut jobs to save millions of dollars at a time when a group of unnamed executives will reap bonuses and stock grants worth millions when the change of ownership is complete. I cannot - and will not - defend any such bonuses. Frankly, I understand why you are angry about these plans.”

We asked Hiller about that too. Here’s his response: “I think unfortunately the way this happened is people have singled out one piece of a bonus for people who have worked hard to get a very large transaction done.”