Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced Wednesday they will cease operations May 3, shuttering one of the oldest metropolitan newspapers in the country.
Jodi Miehls, president of Block Communications, informed staff of the decision during a pre-recorded, 2½-minute Zoom call Wednesday afternoon.
Block Communications, which has owned the Post-Gazette since 1927, cited sustained financial losses, labor strife and the decline of the local news economy in explaining the move.
“I respectfully ask each of you to please consider the legacy of the Post-Gazette. You are our ambassadors, and the Block family would like to exit with grace and dignity,” Miehls said in a video viewed by TribLive. “Please know that I am truly sorry to deliver this message.”
In the video, Miehls said nonunion members who “chose to continue working until closing” will have severance packages available. She said Block plans to work with union representatives to determine unionized employee packages.
Details of the severance packages were not immediately clear.
“Over the past 20 years, Block Communications has lost more than $350 million in cash operating the Post-Gazette. Despite those efforts, the realities facing local journalism make continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable,” the Post-Gazette said in a prepared statement.
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Related:
• A look back at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s 240-year history
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The announcement comes a week after Block Communications shuttered their other Pittsburgh publication, Pittsburgh City Paper.
Allan Block, chairman and CEO of Block Communications, hung up on a TribLive reporter seeking comment Wednesday. A voicemail to a Block family residence requesting comment went unreturned.
Block Communications Inc. is a family-owned multimedia company based in Toledo, Ohio. The Post-Gazette’s roots date to 1786.
The closure includes print and digital operations. On average, the Post-Gazette said it has more than 7 million monthly pageviews online. The newspaper prints twice a week — Thursdays and Sundays.
Stan Wischnowski, executive editor and vice president of the Post-Gazette, could not be reached for comment.
Lengthy strike
Unionized Post-Gazette journalists returned to their North Shore newsroom in November after a bitter three-year strike — one of the longest labor disputes in American journalism.
Andrew Goldstein, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, said in a statement Wednesday the union will pursue “all options” to make sure Pittsburgh will continue to have “the caliber of journalism it deserves.”
“Instead of simply following the law, the owners chose to punish local journalists and the city of Pittsburgh,” he said. “Post-Gazette journalists have done award-winning work for decades.”
Goldstein said the Post-Gazette employs about 150 people across all departments.
Pittsburgh “deserves better,” NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss said.
“Today, the Block family admitted that they don’t have the skill to run a business and also follow the law,” he said. “The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Blocks spent millions on lawyers to fight union workers, fight journalists and break federal labor law. They lost at every level, including now at the Supreme Court.”
Guild attorney Joseph J. Pass said closing the Post-Gazette “does not get the Blocks out from under the legal liabilities they incurred.”
He said, under previous rulings, the financial liability would not disappear if the paper closes. Pass told TribLive there is still a possibility the Blocks could sell.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to use it as leverage to make the union take less,” he said.
Steve Mellon, who was a photographer and writer for the Post-Gazette before going on strike in 2022, said he’s angry in the wake of the announced closure. He returned to work in November along with other union workers.
“I’m concerned for my colleagues. I’m motivated to organize and do what I can to help my colleagues — especially those who (were) on strike with me,” said Mellon, who is 66. “We’ve learned not to panic in these moments. Three years on strike will do that to you.”
He was heading back from an assignment Wednesday when he pulled over to take the company’s Zoom call. Because he experienced the same situation in 1992 at The Pittsburgh Press, he didn’t believe the call would be good news.
“This city has a long history of companies just wanting to push workers around … a long legacy of workers saying, no, you’re not pushing me around,” Mellon said. “Given my age and experience, I know how this plays out. I’m thinking of all my colleagues, the younger reporters in this city, maybe taking (the) Zoom call on their phone — who knows where they’re at — and then all of a sudden, this bomb is dropped in the middle of their lives.”
The Guild planned to meet and discuss the situation, he said.
“We’ll organize around this how we’ve organized around the strike. It’s a tough time to be a journalist,” Mellon said. “Giving up is not an option.”
Court decision
Earlier Wednesday, the Post-Gazette’s publisher failed to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a lower court order that required the company to make changes to its health insurance coverage for union workers.
The justices rejected the request to freeze a temporary injunction issued by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals more than nine months ago. They vacated Justice Samuel Alito’s Dec. 22 order that had paused the appeals court order, court documents said.
“Recent court decisions would require the Post-Gazette to operate under a 2014 labor contract that imposes on the Post-Gazette outdated and inflexible operational practices unsuited for today’s local journalism,” the newspaper’s statement said.
A Nov. 10 decision by three judges on the 3rd Circuit stated the Post-Gazette bargained in bad faith while trying to agree on a new contract with union workers. The Post-Gazette said at the time it would appeal the decision.
Mike Dillon, who has been a professor of journalism at Duquesne University for 28 years, said he was “incredibly saddened” to hear the news.
“The Post-Gazette is a venerable newspaper,” he told TribLive. “Pittsburgh has been privileged to be a two-newspaper town. … I’m kind of gobsmacked to hear this news.”
“Local news is so important,” he added. “When news disappears or when people stop paying attention to news or news outlets close like this, then suddenly people who have both power or obligation to be accountable to the public start using that power more and more and stop being accountable more and more — and that’s very worrisome.”
Dillon said he “feels terrible” for the Post-Gazette employees. Some are his former Duquesne students.
The strike, according to Dillon, dealt a blow to upcoming young journalism talent in the city, as there was “no way for them to hang on with the strike pay.” Many went into public relations and marketing, he said.
As someone who has written numerous op-eds for the Post-Gazette, Dillon said the paper was a platform for people from “all walks of life” to share their voices.
Officials react
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato issued a statement saying she was concerned about the hundreds of employees losing their jobs.
“It is unclear if Block Communications pursued other pathways for buyers or reimagining a downsized future for the papers, but destroying two legacy papers in a week leaves a gaping hole in our local news environment, and I will be engaging local leaders to assess options for a more robust and sustainable local news ecosystem,” the statement said.
Molly Onufer, a spokesperson for Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor, released a statement that said, “I think we were all shocked to hear the news about the Post-Gazette ceasing operations in May. … We appreciate the hard work of the Post-Gazette employees who have told the important stories of Pittsburgh for nearly 100 years, especially those who fought these past few years to establish the union to provide family-sustaining wages for their colleagues.”
Rachael Heisler, Pittsburgh city controller, also released a statement following the news.
“Maintaining a free and independent local media is essential to holding government accountable, preventing waste, fraud and abuse, and making public information more accessible to the public,” she said. “We are disappointed to lose the Post-Gazette as a partner in those efforts amid the continuing decline of local news sources in cities and towns across the country.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, released a statement that said, “Remember, this closure came after the paper’s owners spent millions fighting (and losing) a years-long strike by its workers.”
State Sen. Lindsey Williams condemned the Blocks for not negotiating with the Guild from the beginning.
“The Block Family should be ashamed of themselves,” Williams said in a prepared statement. “It is absurd that they repeatedly blame workers for their failure to manage their own business.”
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Related stories
• Post-Gazette union votes ‘no confidence’ in management
• As Post-Gazette employee representatives consider a strike, analysts say strategy can be dicey
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers move closer to strike
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette journalists go on strike
• Striking Post-Gazette production and advertising workers accept buyout
• Appellate court panel sides with striking Post-Gazette workers; PG will appeal decision
• Judge finds Post-Gazette broke labor law, orders newspaper to bargain with striking workers
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers return to office after 3-year strike
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