There was something almost uncanny about writing up The New York Times’s third-quarter earnings with the words “reported a 6.7 percent rise in profit on Tuesday because of higher national advertising sales.” That’s not how it was supposed to happen; everything about the newspaper industry and its disappointing ad sales that affects other publishers was supposed to hit the Times right upside the masthead.

That’s why it was tempting for some to speculate that the evil, depressing news had to be buried somewhere in the lengthy press release that the Times published this morning to announce the earnings.

For a moment, Gawker thought it might have made a positive ID with the $14 million to $16 million charge for “staff reduction” buried about 250 miles below the surface of the press release. Jeff Bercovici over at Portfolio.com raised the same question .

According to a Times spokeswoman, however, this is mostly to do with staff cuts related to the decision announced last year to consolidate the company’s printing plant operations. That maneuver is resulting in the sale and closure of the big blue plant in Edison, New Jersey, that is familiar to any New Jersey Turnpike traveler.

(Photo: Reuters / New York Times building)