Empire’s new editor: Sabbatini

By
Suzanne Downing
-
6

Mark Sabbatini, who has covered politics for the Juneau Empire on and off for years, is the new managing editor of the Juneau Empire.

He takes over for Ben Hohenstatt, who served as editor for five years and now will work in state government in Juneau as an employee for the State Ombudsman’s office.

Sabbatini first came to the Empire in the 1990s to cover the legislative beat. He ventured to Antarctica and was the publisher of The Antarctic Sun, a newspaper covering science and life in Antarctica, and then went on to arctic Norway, where he spent 13 years editing the alternative weekly called Icepeople in Svalbard. He was forced to leave when his health took a turn for the worse.

Sabattini returned to Juneau in 2022 and started up again at the Empire, where he had become Sunday editor in his prior stint. The Empire has recently become nearly an all-online publication. Print editions of the paper only come out twice a week and are printed in Tacoma, Washington, and delivered by mail to those who still get the newsprint edition.

Juneau Empire going digital, will print just two editions a week

6 COMMENTS

  2. I gotta ask: why?

    The Empire used to be worth having. But they pretty much gutted it years ago. No real reporting, zero investigations, little good coverage of local events.

    If this was a dog, it would be animal cruelty to keep it alive. Just let it go gently.

  3. The market for biased and fake news is very saturated. Good luck, but we in Juneau know it would be best to let this publication ride off into the sunset. In addition, we have a landfill problem and it makes no sense to flood the place with tons of paper twice a week.

  4. The Juneau Empire looks to be yet another failing small-town newspaper. Getting appointed as its new editor is about like getting appointed as the new band director on The Titanic. I hope Mr. Sabbatini enjoys his time there, it might not be a lengthy career move.

  6. The Empire would never hire a conservative, probably been decades since one has been on the roster.

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