McLean, Va. - USA Today, the national newspaper owned by Gannett, plans to cut about 45 positions in its newsroom, spread throughout its news, money, sports and lifestyle departments, the Associated Press reported.

The paper's current staff is about 500.

"It's unfortunate that we have to take these steps, particularly when our newspaper circulation is growing," editor Ken Paulson wrote in a memo to staff, obtained by the AP.

"Unfortunately, revenue has not kept pace and we're now facing the same cutbacks that so many other news organizations have already experienced."

Paulson said that he hopes to accomplish most of the cuts through voluntary buyouts. For the period ending Sept. 30, USA Today remained the top circulation newspaper in the country, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The paper's daily circulation was up 1.04% to 2.29 million, beating out The Wall Street Journal (2.01 million) and The New York Times (1.04 million).

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