The venerable Issaquah Press and three sister weeklies on the Eastside are the latest victims of The Seattle Times recent round of belt-tightening, in the face of falling print-ad revenues.
The 117-year old Press will print its final edition next month, along with the Sammamish Review, the SnoValley Star and the Newcastle News, all part of the Time-owned Issaquah Press Group.
Press GM Charles Horton said the company spent months looking for a business model that could avoid the closures, as advertisers shift their spending to digital and mobile audiences (also see Dan Japhet Media Forecast story).
A total of 12 people will be laid off, including seven in the newsroom and four in advertising. This is nearly half of the 23 job losses reported earlier by The Times (also see Digital-Dollar ‘Drain’ Hitting Northwest Newsrooms story).