The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is shutting down, with its owners, Block Communications, citing a recent court ruling in favor of the union that represents newsroom staff.
Block Communications announced on Wednesday that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will publish its final edition and cease operations on May 3. In a press release, the company called operations “no longer sustainable,” saying it has lost more than $350 million in cash running the newspaper over the past 20 years.
“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court decisions would require the Post-Gazette to operate under a 2014 labor contract that imposes on the Post-Gazette outdated and inflexible operational practices unsuited for today’s local journalism,” Block Communications said in a press release.
“We deeply regret the impact this decision will have on Pittsburgh and the surrounding region. The Block family is proud of the service the Post-Gazette has provided to Pittsburgh for nearly a century and will exit with their dignity intact,” the company added.
Post-Gazette journalists returned to the newsroom in November, ending a three-year strike. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh said the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Post-Gazette to restore the terms of the 2014-17 contract, which the union alleges the paper illegally threw out in 2020.
Earlier this month, Block Communications also announced that it would cease operations at the Pittsburgh City Paper, an alternative weekly publication that had been in print since 1991. The company called it a “difficult decision” and cited “the economic realities facing news organizations.”
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