 The front page of the April 17, 1946 edition | |
| Type | Afternoon Daily newspaper (historical) Afternoon Dailyonline newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | E. W. Scripps Company (1923–1992) Block Communications (2011–2015) |
| Founded | June 23, 1884 |
| Ceased publication | July 28, 1992 (in print) |
| Relaunched | November 14, 2011–September 25, 2015 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| OCLC number | 2266185 |
| Website | press |
The Pittsburgh Press, formerlyThe Pittsburg Press and originallyThe Evening Penny Press, was a major afternoon daily newspaper published inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popularity, thePress was the second-largest newspaper inPennsylvania behindThe Philadelphia Inquirer. For four years starting in 2011, the brand was revived and applied to an afternoononline edition of thePittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The history of thePress traces back to an effort by Thomas J. Keenan Jr. to buyThe Pittsburg Times newspaper, at which he was employed as city editor. Joining Keenan in his endeavor were reporter John S. Ritenour of thePittsburgh Post, Charles W. Houston of the city clerk's office, and U.S. RepresentativeThomas M. Bayne.[1]
After examining theTimes and finding it in a poor state, the group changed course and decided to start a newpenny paper in hopes that it would flourish in a local market full of two- and three-cent dailies.[2] The first issue appeared on June 23, 1884.[3]
A corporation was formed, with Bayne as the largest shareholder.[1] Initially calledThe Evening Penny Press, the newspaper's name changed toThe Pittsburg Press on October 19, 1887.[4][5] The paper referred to thecity as "Pittsburg" until August 1921, when the letter 'h' was added.[6]
In 1901, Keenan, who had by then gained financial and editorial control of the paper, sold out to a syndicate led by Oliver S. Hershman.[7][8] Hershman remained the controlling owner until selling to theScripps-Howard chain in 1923.[9]
In 1961, thePress entered into aJoint Operating Agreement (JOA) with the competingPittsburgh Post-Gazette. ThePost-Gazette had previously purchased and merged with theHearst Corporation'sPittsburgh Sun-Telegraph leaving just itself and the much largerPittsburgh Press. The agreement was to be managed by the owners of thePittsburgh Press,E. W. Scripps Company, since thePress had the larger circulation and brand identity. Under the agreement, thePost-Gazette became a six-day morning paper, and thePittsburgh Press became a six-day afternoon paper in addition to publishing the only Sunday newspaper inPittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, 413 U.S. 376 (1973), is a 1973 decision of theUnited States Supreme Court which upheld an ordinance enacted inPittsburgh that forbids sex-designatedclassified advertising for job opportunities, against a claim by the parent company of thePress that the ordinance violated its First Amendment rights.
On October 22, 1991,Press management announced significant changes, designed to modernize its distribution system, at the initial bargaining with theTeamsters Local 211 union, as well as eight other unions. The unions' contracts with thePress expired on December 31. Negotiations continued into 1992 with no agreement on a new contract. The Teamsters employees finally walked off the job on May 17, effectively putting a halt to the publication of thePress and thePost-Gazette.[10] The Teamsters refused to drive the small delivery trucks more than half full.
In the press room, a union featherbedding provision under which its members had to set up every ad that appeared in the newspaper, even if it ran years before; in the case of advertisements prepared by outside print shops, those ads were still set up in the type used by thePress, and then dismantled. The backlog of such advertisements grew to several years long. With the increasing rise of electronic media, and more younger readers not reading newspapers, the Press could no longer sustain the union practices of the past. The unions would not budge and did not believe that the previous business model could no longer be sustained and afforded. A short sound bite on national TV by the then-mayor supporting the unions was the death knell, and Scripps-Howard consequently ended the newspaper. All the union jobs were lost, as were the jobs of over 100 non-union employees of the newspaper.
An attempt by both papers to resume distribution, with replacement drivers, began with the July 27 issues of both papers and lasted two days until they halted publication again due to resistance from the public and civic leaders.[11] The second day, July 28, marked the final edition of thePress.[5]
After months of failed negotiations, Scripps put thePittsburgh Press up for sale on October 2, 1992.Block Communications, the owners of the much smaller JOA paper, thePost-Gazette, agreed to purchase the paper, effective November 30, upon the settlement of the strike.[11] The first issue of the newly combinedPittsburgh Post-Gazette, the first in nearly six months, was published on January 18, 1993, as a single combined newspaper incorporating many features and personnel from thePress, which would no longer be published.[12] The loss of thePittsburgh Press came as a shock to many Pittsburghers, who expected the larger paper to survive the strike.[citation needed]
In return for the sale of thePress, Scripps receivedThe Monterey County Herald. The sale required a ruling by theU.S. Department of Justice as theNewspaper Preservation Act of 1970 regulated the JOA.
On November 14, 2011, Block Communications announced that it was bringing back thePress in anonline-only edition for the afternoon, effective immediately. David Shribman, the executive editor of thePost-Gazette, explained his paper's motivation for reviving thePress name, citing the fact that his newspaper still receivedletters to the editor addressed to thePress instead of thePost-Gazette, and that despite nearly 20 years since its last publication Pittsburgh natives still talked about thePress regularly.
Although published electronically, the newPress was formatted with a fixed layout replicating that of a traditional printed newspaper, and its font and layout were similar to the original print version of thePress.[13] The experiment ended with the issue of September 25, 2015.[14] Scripps—by this point having divested its newspaper operations toGannett—would eventually return to the Pittsburgh market in 2021 when it acquired localIon Television stationWINP-TV as part of its larger acquisition ofIon Media.
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