Amid falling revenue, Sound Publishing lays off 70 workers

EVERETT — Sound Publishing has laid off 20% of its workforce at newspapers in Washington and Alaska as advertising revenue continues to crater amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seventy workers across all departments lost their jobs last week, the second round of cost-cutting since late March, when the statewide stay-home order forced closure of Main Street retailers, drying up a critical stream of income.

More than a dozen of those laid off worked at The Daily Herald office in Everett in sports, photo, circulation and sales and on the copy desk. Employees received severance based on their tenure with the company.

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Sound Publishing is the latest newspaper in the state and around the country forced to retrench as society buckles down to fight the coronavirus.

In recent weeks, the Spokesman-Review in Spokane and the News-Tribune in Tacoma stopped printing Saturday editions. The Stranger in Seattle suspended its print edition. The Seattle Times avoided potential layoffs, for now, with a federal small business loan.

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