Another media tragedy: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is shutting down

 So reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I wrote to the Heinz Endowment, and the PBS and NPR affiliates in Pittsburgh, suggesting that the work together to acquire and continue to operate the paper.

Comparable to how WBEZ-FM/NPR took over the Chicago Sun-Times ("Chicago Public Media Announces Its Acquisition of the Chicago Sun-Times,").

And when the Kresge Foundation led a funding round during the City of Detroit's bankruptcy, to keep the collections of the city museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, intact ("Charities commit $330m to help save Detroit's art from being sold in bailout," Guardian).

The Kresge initiative was necessary because the DIA had never been incorporated as an organization separate from the City of Detroit.  

Instead, the Museum was a department/agency of the city, like the police department.  So its assets were at play during the bankruptcy.

Also a couple weeks ago, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution stopped printing a paper (the Newark Star-Ledger did this a year ago or so), going to online only.

The book “News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement, discusses how enhancing local news media strengthens public involvement.

Newspapers are key to awareness about local happenings and are a key element in whether or not people participate in local civic affairs.  

In my opinion, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a very good local paper, with strong coverage on land use issues, the arts, public health, etc. I try to go through the back file of local news articles at least once/month.

And I frequently write entries in response to PPG articles such as:

-- "Wednesday, October 19, 2022 It's not the age of the housing stock, but the ability of property owners to maintain it: Disinvestment in Pittsburgh," 2022
-- "Big Ideas for a Better Pittsburgh | and a point about world class cities," 2025
-- "Pittsburgh developer backs down on opposition to ticket fee for concerts, to be used for area improvements," 2023
-- "NBA All Star Game in Salt Lake, economic development hype | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the Pirates baseball team economics," 2023

Newspapers and community engagement

-- "How Local Newspapers Support Public Awareness and Community Engagement," Hornet Newspaper
-- Civic Engagement Strongly Tied to Local News Habits, Pew Research Center
-- "Rebuilding local news fosters civic engagement," American Journalism Project

According to the Hornet, newspapers:

• Provide access to information
• Hold public officials and corporations accountable
• Provide a voice for the local community
• Strengthen community identity
• Improve community life by fostering participation

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The recent history of the paper is interesting.  It's owned by a small company, Block Communications, with papers in Toledo and Pittsburgh.  I think the original Block used to be an agent for the Hearst Newspapers Group back in the day, buying newspapers.

Pittsburgh used to have two papers, the Press owned by E.W. Scripps, and the PPG.  They ran together on a joint operating group basis, where the Press ran the business operations and printing, with two separate editorial staffs.  But then there was a strike in 1992.

Scripps decided to scrap their paper.   And Block Communications took over the business operations and kept the paper running.

The paper was seen as liberal, but then John Block took over as publisher and he is conservative.  This created problems and the newspaper has been under a strike by journalists for more than a year ("A newsroom tirade and a controversial hire: tension rises at Pittsburgh newspaper," CNN, 2019, "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says it will close. Race and politics have been tearing it apart for years," MediaNation).

Despite its recent turmoil, they've been putting out a quality, informative product.