The Halifax Chronicle-Herald is chopping more than 20 jobs — nearly one-quarter of its newsroom staff.

Dan Leger, director of news content, said 24 employees are getting their notices, as the newspaper grapples with rising costs and a loss of ad revenue.

Tuesday's announcement starts a 45-day period of talks with the Halifax Typographical Union, which represents the newsroom employees.

"During that period, we will be looking for ways of offering buyouts, and potentially early leave options and things like that for people who qualify, and trying to find ways to mitigate the impact of the cuts," Leger said.

Despite the job losses, the paper is "determined to maintain its high quality standards," Herald vice-president Sarah Dennis said in a news release.

More than 100 people work in the paper's news division. They were told last month they're facing a $1.5-million cut.

The Chronicle-Herald is one of the few independently owned daily newspapers in Canada.

Halifax lost the Daily News last February when Transcontinental Media shut it down and replaced it with Metro, a free newspaper with a much smaller staff.

With files from the Canadian Press