Citing Changing Times, Atlanta’s Creative Loafing Cuts Staff

Amid winnowing at alternative weeklies around the country, an Atlanta-based arts and entertainment publication has announced a bevy of changes, including staff cuts.

Creative Loafing said in a release Wednesday that it reduced three editorial staff positions to freelance/contributing editor positions and cut four positions in sales and marketing, saying the 45-year-old publication has “returned to its roots” with a shift toward freelance contributions.

A new website will launch in January.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports these changes come a few months after Creative Loafing reduced its weekly print edition to a monthly format, of which it publishes 60,000 copies.

The son of its original owners, CEO Ben Eason, repurchased the brand in February. He says the staff-driven model is part of “an era that is likely gone.”