 | |
 The November 2, 2018 front page of thePittsburgh Post-Gazette | |
| Type | Daily online /semiweekly print newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Block Communications |
| Publisher | John Robinson Block |
| President | Tracey DeAngelo |
| Editor | Stan Wischnowski |
| Founded | 1786; 239 years ago (1786) (asThe Pittsburgh Gazette) |
| Headquarters | 358 North Shore Drive Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania 15212 |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 74,444 daily (101,747 Sunday) |
| ISSN | 1068-624X |
| Website | post-gazette |
ThePittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as thePG, is the largest newspaper servingmetropolitanPittsburgh in the U.S. state ofPennsylvania. Descended from thePittsburgh Gazette, established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of theAllegheny Mountains, the paper formed under its present title in 1927 from the consolidation of thePittsburgh Gazette Times andThe Pittsburgh Post.
ThePost-Gazette ended daily print publication in 2018 and has cut down to two print editions per week (Sunday and Thursday), goingonline-only the rest of the week.
In the 2010s, the editorial tone of the paper shifted fromliberal toconservative, particularly after the editorial pages of the paper were consolidated in 2018 withThe Blade ofToledo, Ohio. After the consolidation, Keith Burris, the pro-Trump editorial page editor ofThe Blade, directed the editorial pages of both papers.[1][2]
Copies are sold for $4 daily (Thursdays) and $6 Sundays/Thanksgiving Day in-state. This includesAllegheny and adjacent counties. Prices are higher outside the state.
PG staff have been on strike since October 2022.
ThePost-Gazette began its history as a four-page weekly calledThe Pittsburgh Gazette, first published on July 29, 1786, with the encouragement ofHugh Henry Brackenridge.[3][4] It was the first newspaper published west of theAllegheny Mountains.[3] Published by Joseph Hall and John Scull, the paper covered the start of the nation. As one of its first major articles, theGazette published the newly adoptedConstitution of the United States.[5]
In 1820, under publishers Eichbaum and Johnston and editor Morgan Neville, the name changed toPittsburgh Gazette and Manufacturing and Mercantile Advertiser.[6] David MacLean bought the paper in 1822, and later reverted to the former title.[7]
Under editorNeville B. Craig, whose service lasted from 1829 to 1841, theGazette championed theAnti-Masonic movement. Craig turned theGazette into the city's first daily paper, issued every afternoon except Sunday starting on July 30, 1833.[8]
In 1844, shortly after absorbing theAdvocate, theGazette switched its daily issue time to morning.[9] Its editorial stance at the time was conservative and strongly favoring theWhig Party.[10] By the 1850s the Gazette was credited with helping to organize a local chapter of the newRepublican Party, and with contributing to the election ofAbraham Lincoln.
The paper was one of the first to suggest tensions between North and South would erupt in war.[11]
After consolidating with theCommercial in 1877, the paper was again renamed and was then known as theCommercial Gazette.[12]
In 1900,George T. Oliver acquired the paper, merging it six years later withThe Pittsburg Times to formThe Gazette Times.[13]
The PittsburghPost first appeared on September 10, 1842, as theDaily Morning Post.[14] It had its origin in three pro-Democratic weeklies, theMercury,Allegheny Democrat, andAmerican Manufacturer, which came together through a pair of mergers in the early 1840s.[15] The three papers had for years engaged in bitter editorial battles with theGazette.[16]
Like its predecessors, thePost advocated the policies of the Democratic Party. Its political opposition to theWhig and laterRepublicanGazette was so enduring that an eventual combination of the two rivals would have seemed unlikely.[17]
The 1920s were a time of consolidation in thePittsburgh newspaper market. In 1923, local publishers banded together to acquire and kill off theDispatch andLeader. Four years later,William Randolph Hearst negotiated with the Olivers to purchase the morningGazette Times and its evening sister, theChronicle Telegraph, whilePaul Block arranged to buy out the owner of the morningPost and eveningSun. After swapping theSun in return for Hearst'sGazette Times, Block had both morning papers, which he combined to form thePost-Gazette. Hearst united the evening papers, creating theSun-Telegraph. Both new papers debuted on August 2, 1927.[18]
In 1960, Pittsburgh had three daily papers: thePost-Gazette in the morning, and thePittsburgh Press and thePittsburgh Sun-Telegraph in the evening and on Sunday. ThePost-Gazette bought theSun-Telegraph and moved into theSun-Telegraph's Grant Street offices.[19]
ThePost-Gazette tried to publish a Sunday paper to compete with theSunday Press but it was not profitable; rising costs in general were challenging the company's bottom line.[20] In November 1961, thePost-Gazette entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh Press Company to combine their production and advertising sales operations.[21] ThePost-Gazette owned and operated its own news and editorial departments, but production and distribution of the paper was handled by the larger Press office.[21] This agreement stayed in place for over 30 years.[22]
The agreement gave thePost-Gazette a new home in thePress building, a comfortable upgrade from the hated "Sun-Telly barn".[23] Constructed for thePress in 1927 and expanded with a curtain wall in 1962, the building served as thePost-Gazette headquarters until 2015.[24]
On May 17, 1992, astrike by workers for thePress shut down publication of thePress; the joint operating agreement meant that thePost-Gazette also ceased to publish.[25] During the strike, theScripps Howard company sold thePress to the Block family, owners of thePost-Gazette.[22] The Blocks did not resume printing thePress, and when the labor issue was resolved and publishing resumed, thePost-Gazette became the city's major paper, under the full masthead namePittsburgh Post-Gazette Sun-Telegraph/The Pittsburgh Press. The Block ownership did not take this opportunity to address labor costs, which had led to sale of thePress. This would come back to haunt them and lead to financial problems (see "Financial Challenges" below).
During the strike, publisherRichard Mellon Scaife expanded his paper, theGreensburg Tribune-Review, based in thecounty seat of adjoiningWestmoreland County, where it had published for years. While maintaining the original paper in its facilities in Greensburg, he expanded it with a new Pittsburgh edition to serve the city and its suburbs. Scaife named this paper thePittsburgh Tribune-Review.[26] Scaife has invested significant amounts of capital into upgraded facilities, separate offices and newsroom on Pittsburgh's North Side and a state of the art production facility inMarshall Township north of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. Relations between thePost-Gazette andTribune-Review, during its existence as a local print publication, were often competitive and frequently hostile, given Scaife's longstanding distaste for what he considered the Blocks' liberalism.
On 14 November 2011 thePost-Gazette revived thePittsburgh Press as an afternoononline newspaper.[27] On 12 February 2014, the paper purchased a new distribution facility in suburbanFindlay Township, Pennsylvania.[28] In 2015 the paper moved into a new, state-of-the-art office building on theNorth Shore on a portion of the former site ofThree Rivers Stadium, ending 53 years in the formerPress building and more than two centuries in Downtown.[29] Block Communications sold the Downtown Post-Gazette building in 2019 to DiCicco Development, Inc., a developer headquartered inMoon Township, for $13.25 million.[30][31] As of late 2022, DiCicco Development is still deciding what type of use might work best on the property.
On 6 October 2022 the advertising, distribution and production workers at the Post Gazette went on strike. On October 18, the newsroom workers joined the strike.[32] TheNational Labor Relations Board (NLRB) also pursued a case against the paper charging unfair practices. As of March 2023 the strike had not been settled and the NLRB case was pending before an administrative law judge.[33] As of January 2024, the unions were still on strike against the Post-Gazette.[34][35] In April 2024 the National Labor Relations Board announced it was authorizing a request from the newspaper's unions to seek a temporary injunction against the Post-Gazette's ownership for violating workers' labor rights.[36]
The newspaper sponsored a 23,000 seatoutdoor amphitheater inBurgettstown, Pennsylvania, the "Post-Gazette Pavilion", although it is still often referred to as "Star Lake", based on the original name, "Star Lake Amphitheater", and later "Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater" under the former sponsor. They gave upnaming rights in 2010.[37]First Niagara Bank, which had entered the Pittsburgh market the year before afteracquiringNational City branches from Pittsburgh-basedPNC Financial Services,[38] took over the naming rights to the facility and is now known as theKeyBank Pavilion.[37]
The newspaper once had ventures in television. In 1957, the Post-Gazette partnered with the H. Kenneth Brennen family, local radio owners, to launch WIIC-TV (nowWPXI) as the area's first full-timeNBC affiliate.[39][40] ThePost-Gazette and the Brennens sold off the station to current ownerCox Enterprises in 1964.[41] Although thePost-Gazette and WPXI have on occasion had some news partnerships, the Post-Gazette's primary news partner is now the localCBSowned-and-operated stationKDKA-TV.
In 2019, thePittsburgh Post-Gazette was a founding member ofSpotlight PA, aninvestigative reporting partnership focused on Pennsylvania.[42]
When John Craig handed editorial reign toDavid Shribman in 2003, Craig told Shribman that the paper was in terrible financial shape. It was around the time ofHanukkah, and Shribman quipped, "It seemed there was only enough oil in this newspaper to keep the light on for one year."[43] In September 2006 the paper disclosed that it was experiencing financial challenges, largely related to its labor costs. The paper also disclosed it had not been profitable since printing had resumed in 1993. As a result of these issues, the paper considered a number of options, including putting the paper up for sale.[44] In August 2018 thePost-Gazette ceased publishing daily.[45] It cut down to online editions on Tuesdays and Saturdays and print editions the remaining days of the week. In October 2019, the paper further reduced its paper editions to Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.[46] In March 2021, the paper cut down again, getting rid of the Friday edition.[47]
In June 2018, thePost Gazette fired its long-time editorial cartoonist,Rob Rogers, a previousPulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning finalist who had worked at the paper for 25 years,[48][49][50] having joined the paper in 1993[51] and worked under foursupervising editors.[50] The firing came in the context of increasing support for PresidentDonald Trump and political conservatism on thePost-Gazette editorial page.[48] Pittsburgh mayorWilliam Peduto (who was both a friend of Rogers' and had been lampooned in his cartoons) called the paper's firing of Rogers "disappointing" and said it sent "the wrong message about press freedoms."[52][50] The firing was strongly criticized by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh[48] and theNational Cartoonists Society.[50] The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists said in a statement: "It's as simple as this: Rogers was fired for refusing to do cartoons extolling Trump. Let that sink in."[49] The paper said that Rogers' dismissal "has little to do with politics, ideology or Donald Trump" but did not provide details.[50] Rogers wrote in theNew York Times that the paper's new management had decided, in the lead-up to his firing, that his cartoons satirizing Trump "were 'too angry.'"[51] Rogers said that while editors had previously rejected (or "spiked") an average of two to three of his cartoons each year, under a new supervisor he had 19 cartoons or cartoon ideas killed in the first six months of 2018.[50]
Four months after Rogers was fired, thePost-Gazette hired conservative editorial cartoonistSteve Kelley as Rogers' replacement.[53] After being fired, Rogers' comics continued to be published throughAndrews McMeel Syndication.[50] As a freelancer, Rogers was named as a finalist for the2019 Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning, with the committee citing his "provocative illustrations that channeled cultural and historical references with expert artistry and an eye for hypocrisy and injustice."[54]
In 2020, thePost-Gazette prohibited its reporter Alexis Johnson from covering theGeorge Floyd protests.[55] ThePost-Gazette said that Johnson, anAfrican American, had shown bias by making a tweet that highlighted extensive littering from aKenny Chesney concert tailgate. The pulling of Johnson from the story prompted an outcry from journalists, including the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and many of Johnson'sPost-Gazette colleagues.[55]
ThePost-Gazette wonPulitzer Prizes in1938,1998, and2019. Photographer Morris Berman maintained that the paper would have also won a Pulitzer in1964, had it chosen to run the iconic photo ofY. A. Tittle that he took atPitt Stadium,[56] which would go on to win awards, hang in thePro Football Hall of Fame, and be used for the back cover of Tittle's autobiography and in aMiller Beer High-Life commercial in 2005.
In 1938,Ray Sprigle won thePulitzer Prize for Reporting for his investigation revealing that newly appointed Supreme Court JusticeHugo Black had been a member of theKu Klux Klan.
Staff photographerMartha Rial won the 1998Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for her photographs ofRwandan andBurundian refugees.
PhotographerJohn Kaplan won the1992Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for a series of photo essays on 21-year-olds, which was published in thePost-Gazette and two other papers of the Block Newspapers group.[57] This award cited Block Newspapers rather than thePost-Gazette specifically.[58]
ThePost-Gazette won the 2019Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of thePittsburgh synagogue shooting. The paper was praised for its "immersive, compassionate coverage."[59]
In 1997, Bill Moushey won theNational Press Club’s Freedom of Information Award on a series investigating the Federal Witness Protection Program and was a finalist for the Pulitzer.[60][61]
ThePost-Gazette also won theWilbur Award from theReligion Communicators Council (RCC) in 2017 for religion editor Peter Smith's work,Silent Sanctuaries.[62] Smith, Stephanie Strasburg, and Shelly Bradbury were finalists for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for an investigation into sexual abuse in Pennsylvania's Amish and Mennonite communities.[63]
Michael Sallah, Michael Korsh and Evan Robinson-Johnson of thePost-Gazette, withProPublica, won the 2023George Polk Award for medical reporting for a series on Philips Respironics' efforts to continue marketing their breathing machines despite knowing they were dangerous to users.[64]
ThePost-Gazette historically sided withmodern liberalism in its editorial stance. However, it turned moreconservative in the 2010s, especially following the 2018 consolidation of its editorial department with that of longtime sister newspaperThe Blade ofToledo, Ohio, and the appointment ofThe Blade's editorial page editor, Keith Burris, a frequent defender ofDonald Trump, as thePost-Gazette's editorial page editor.[2] Burris assumed the additional position of executive editor of thePost-Gazette in 2019.[65] In 2020, thePost-Gazette endorsed Trump's reelection bid, the first time since the1972 US presidential election that the paper had endorsed a Republican for president.[66]
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