Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Reporters Find No Job Security With New Non-Profit Owners  

Labor Landscape

More than 40 percent of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s workers are losing their jobs, and 80 percent of employees who had gone on strike did not receive a job offer from the non-profit that purchased the paper, according to Andrew Goldstein, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.  

 The nonprofit Venetoulis Institute for Local journalism, which recently acquired the publication, did not respond to requests for comments Friday. But a sizeable portion of the Post-Gazette newsroom, which numbered about 100 people, was not retained by the paper’s Maryland-based nonprofit, workers at the paper confirmed.  The photography and high school sports departments experienced significant hits.  

In a statement released by the Guild, Goldstein said they do not know the full extent yet, but somewhere around half the newsroom is being axed.   

The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism announced last month that it was acquiring the Post-Gazette from Block Communications. Venetoulis, a non-profit that owns the Baltimore Banner, indicated in April that the Post-Gazette staff size would shrink but did not provide an exact figure.  

Some staff writers started posting on social media Thursday that they did not receive offer letters for continued employment.  

Music writer Scott Mervis is among those not being retained. He posted on X that he had worked for the paper for 41 years.  And high school sports reporter Steve Rotstein said he will not keep his job.  

Sale of the paper becomes effective May 4 and the Post-Gazette name will be unchanged. The Post-Gazette, one of the nation’s oldest papers, was set to close operations May 3.  The paper had suffered financial losses for years.  

The new owners said they plan to maintain the Post-Gazette’s two print publication days, Thursday and Sunday.  Financial terms of the deal were never disclosed.  

As part of the transaction, Post-Gazette Executive Editor Emeritus David Shribman will join the Venetoulis board. Previously, he was assistant managing editor of the Boston Globe,  and politics correspondent at the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Most recently, Shribman served as the Post-Gazette’s executive editor from 2003 to 2018.  

“The Block family has worked to find the best possible source for responsible local journalism for the Pittsburgh region and we believe we have succeeded,’’ Karen Johnese, chair of  Block Communications, said in a prepared release. “We are excited to hand our treasured paper over to such a committed and creative organization. ‘’  

Plagued by changing market conditions and eclectic reader habits in sourcing news, the U.S. has lost more than 3,200 newspapers since 2005, more than 130 newspapers between 2024 and 2025 alone, according to the Local News Initiative at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. At the same time digital-only news sites like the Banner have been multiplying, even thriving, a 2025 report found.  

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