A Pittsburgh newspaper has been given new life after a nonprofit journalism organization stepped in and acquired it. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was set to shut down next month, after operating for more than two centuries.
Now, the local paper will operate as a nonprofit, thanks to a deal between the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism and the paper’s current owner, Block Communications.
Under the new deal, the newsroom and local leadership will remain the same, but some functions, like technology and business operations, will combine with teams at the Venetoulis Institute, the Post-Gazette reports.
The name of the paper will remain the same, and it will continue to publish print editions on Thursdays and Sundays along with continual updates to its website.
“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 statement. “We are excited to hand our treasured paper over to such a committed and creative organization.”
The Venetoulis Institute
The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism operates The Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit all-digital news organization that launched in 2022. The institute is financed by hotel magnate Stewart W. Bainum Jr.
It aims to bolster local journalism, crafting a model that also establishes economic stability for local media.
“We aspire to build a culture that’s transparent, collaborative and ambitious and has a sense of urgency and respects everybody,” Bainum told the Post-Gazette. “The test is not whether you’re for-profit or nonprofit, but whether you’re providing high-quality journalism to communities that need it most.”
A struggling industry
The news out of Pittsburgh is a rare glimpse of positivity for the newspaper industry, which has seen a rise in closures and downsizing in recent years.
Earlier this year, The Washington Post announced significant layoffs and department closures, calling it a “broad strategic reset.”
And last year, Northwestern University released a report that found more than 130 papers had shut down in 2024 alone.
In the last 25 years, “close to 3,500 newspapers have vanished, leaving one in every four Americans with limited access to a local print newspaper,” the university found.
If the Post-Gazette had closed, Pittsburgh would have been the largest metro area in the U.S. without a daily newspaper. Atlanta became the first major U.S. city without a print newspaper when The Atlanta Journal-Constitution went all-digital early this year.
