Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 The 2006-07-23 front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
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| Owner | PG Publishing Co., Inc. |
| Publisher | John Robinson Block |
| Editor | John Robinson Block |
| Founded | 1786 (as The Gazette) |
| Price | US$ 0.50 Mon-Sat US$ 1.50 Sun (Pittsburgh) US$ 1.75 Sun (elsewhere) |
| Headquarters | 34 Blvd. of the Allies Pittsburgh, PA 15222  United States |
| Circulation | 230,887 Daily 382,238 Sunday |
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| Website: post-gazette.com | |
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the PG, is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
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[edit] Early history
The paper began publication on July 29, 1786 with the encouragement of Hugh Henry Brackenridge as a four-page weekly, initially called The Gazette. It was the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains. The publishers were Joseph Hall and John Scull. The paper covered the start of the nation, and as one of its first major articles, published the newly adopted Constitution of the United States.
In 1828, the paper was sold to Morgan Neville, and the name briefly changed to Pittsburgh Gazette and Manufacturing and Mercantile Advertiser. In 1829, Neville sold the paper to David McClean, who reverted to the former title.
In 1844, the paper became a morning daily paper. The paper's editorial stance at the time was conservative, and the paper's presence in Pittsburgh was credited with helping to organize a local chapter of the Republican Party, and with contributing to the election of Abraham Lincoln. The paper was one of the first to suggest tensions between North and South would erupt in civil war. [1]
After a consolidation of papers in 1866, the paper was again renamed and was then known as the Commercial Gazette.
In 1900, George Oliver acquired the paper, merged it with another paper (The Pittsburgh Times) and formed a new paper, The Gazette Times. After several more mergers of newspapers in Pittsburgh, publisher Paul Block bought the paper in 1927 and it became the Post-Gazette.
 The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Building |
[edit] Joint operating agreement
In 1960, Pittsburgh had three daily papers: the Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, and the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. The Post-Gazette bought the Sun-Telegraph, and moved into the Sun-Telegraph's Grant Street offices.
The Post-Gazette tried to publish a Sunday paper to compete with the Sunday Press but it was not profitable; rising costs in general were challenging the company's bottom line. In November 1961, the Post-Gazette entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh Press Company to combine their production and advertising sales operations. The Post-Gazette owned and operated its own news and editorial departments, but production and distribution of the paper was handled by the larger Press office. This agreement stayed in place for over 30 years.
[edit] Strike, consolidation, new competition
On May 17, 1992, a strike by workers for the Press shut down publication of the Press; the joint operating agreement meant that the Post-Gazette also ceased to publish. During the strike, the Scripps Howard company sold the Press to the Block family, owners of the Post-Gazette. The Blocks did not resume printing the Press, and when the labor issue was resolved and publishing resumed, the Post-Gazette became the city's major paper.
During the strike, conservative/libertarian publisher Richard Mellon Scaife expanded his paper, the Greensburg Tribune-Review, based in the county seat of adjoining Westmoreland County, where it had published for years. While maintaining the original paper in its facilities in Greensburg, he expanded it with a new Pittsburgh edition to serve the city and its suburbs. Scaife named this paper the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Scaife has invested significant amounts of capital into upgraded facilities, separate offices and newsroom on Pittsburgh's North Side and a state of the art production facility in Marshall Township north of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. Relations between the Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review are often competitive.
[edit] Editorial stance
The paper's opinion page is generally considered liberal, in contrast to the city's other major paper, the more conservative and libertarian Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.[citations needed] The P-G's current daily circulation is about 243,000 with over 400,000 on Sunday.
On its masthead, the P-G identifies itself as One of America's Great Newspapers, as does its sister paper The Toledo Blade. The newspaper has won two Pulitzer Prizes: one in 1998 for spot news photography, and one in 1938 for reporting on Justice Hugo Black's ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
[edit] Community presence
The newspaper sponsors a major 23,000 seat outdoor amphitheater in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, the Post-Gazette Pavilion.
[edit] Financial challenges
In September 2006, the paper disclosed that it is experiencing financial challenges, largely related to its labor costs. The paper also disclosed it had not been profitable since printing had resumed in 1993. As a result of these issues, the paper is considering a number of options, including putting the paper up for sale.[2]. While deep concern about the paper's future ensued, negotiations proved fruitful and in February, 2007 the paper's unions ratified a new agreement with management mandating job cuts, changes in funding health care benefits and so forth.
[edit] References
- Andrews, J. Cutler (1936). Pittsburgh's Post-Gazette: The First Newspaper West of the Alleghenies. Boston: Chapman and Grimes.
- Thomas, Clarke M. (2005). Front-Page Pittsburgh: Two Hundred Years of the Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0822942488.
- Daily and Sunday Newspaper Circulation. Newspapers First (2006-03-31). Retrieved on March 1, 2007.
