Pacific Publishing Company, Inc. publisher of five Seattle community newspapers, including the Capitol Hill Times, has announced the layoff of six full-time employees effective Friday, Feb. 20.
Two editors - Doug Schwartz of the Capitol Hill Times and Erik Hansen of the South Seattle Beacon and Madison Park Times - and four sales people - were let go.
"We had to layoff six good people and it's painful," publisher Mike Dillon said. "But we had to bring our expenses in line with lower advertising revenues. We'll get through this. We have strong audiences for our newspapers, and community newspapers in general aren't caught in the same downward spiral as daily newspapers. But as all the world knows, it's very tough out there right now."
Dillon said a format change for three of the Pacific Publishing newspapers, the Capitol Hill Times, North Seattle Herald-Outlook and South Seattle Beacon, will be announced in the near future. He added that no changes are planned for the Queen Anne & Magnolia News and Madison Park Times. Pacific Publishing also publishes City Living twice a month.
