Editor & Publisher says the massive job cuts at newspapers across the county is the top newspaper industry story of 2008.

Here’s what Joe Strupp of E&P, a newspaper industry journal, has to say about No. 1 on its Top Ten list:

“1. Record Job Cuts — Three years ago, this was the top industry story of the year when some 2,000 newspaper jobs were lost in 2005. This year, Gannett cut that many in December alone, after slashing 1,000 others in August. Then there is McClatchy with two rounds of cuts, totaling 2,500 jobs; Tribune slashing more than 1,000; and various other small dailies and chains dropping staff here and there. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. saw more than 300 buyouts, while more than 100 jobs were lost each at The Washington Post, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Newsday and others.”

The No. 2 story of the newspaper year was papers increasingly turning from print products to online products. No. 3 was the collapsing values of newspaper stocks.

Many of the stories are related to the lousy economy. But No. 6 was the huge reader demand for newspapers the day after Barack Obama won the election.

Strupp writes:

“6. Election Day (After) — The ongoing circulation slide took a holiday on Nov. 5, the day after Barack Obama won the presidential election. Despite massive broadcast, cable and Web coverage of the first black president-elect, hundreds of thousands of people went to their print newspaper to grab a piece of history….”

The Post-Dispatch sold all copies that day, and sold out an Election Extra, which then went back on the presses to meet readers’ demands. (Reprints of those pages are available on STLtoday.com)