Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Impending Demise: Here's What Could Come Next

PITTSBURGH, PA — The stunning announcement Wednesday that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette intends to go out of business in May could lead to the city becoming the nation's largest metropolitaN AREA without a daily newspaper presence.

Or perhaps not. The Nieman Journalism Lab, a project by Harvard University's Nieman Lab, has suggested that several options exist in keeping the P-G - or at least an alternative version of it - alive.

In a news release, Block Communications, which has owned the newspaper for nearly a century announced it would cease operations and publish its final edition on May 3. Block, which also owns the Toldeo Blade and several TV stations said the operation has lost more than $350 million over the past 20 years.

The Nieman Lab is an online resource for understanding the future of journalism and news in the digital age.

It has suggested that the city's robust philanthropic community could come to the Post-Gazette's aid. That has happened across the state, where the Lenfest Institute, serves as the non-controlling, non-profit owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Neiman said Block could donate the Post-Gazette to a nonprofit that carries on with a functionally sized newsroom.

Another possibility is a sale of the paper's assets to the Tribune-Review, which operated a Pittsburgh edition from 1992 to 2016 before overwhelming losses forced its closure. The Trib still publishes a Greensburg edition and the Valley News Dispatch.

How likely is that or reviving its Pittsburgh edition? Said the Nieman Lab's Joshua Benton, a former Toledo Blade reporter: "Even if (the Trib) slaps “Pittsburgh” back on the front page, I wouldn’t count on it."