The union representing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporters demanded Monday management rescind their ban on two black journalists covering protests over the death of George Floyd.

The situation began to unfold a week ago, according to Michael Fuoco, president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents most newsroom employees at the paper. Post-Gazette journalist Alexis Johnson, who had been covering protests for the paper, tweeted four photos of trash left behind at past Kenny Chesney tailgates in Pittsburgh.

“Horrifying scenes and aftermath from selfish LOOTERS who don’t care about this city!!!!!” she tweeted May 31. “…. oh wait sorry. No, these are pictures from a Kenny Chesney concert tailgate. Whoops.”

Fuoco said Post-Gazette management then barred Johnson from protest coverage, alleging her tweet showed bias. Other reporters showed their support for Johnson on Twitter. Management, Fuoco said, responded by pulling two already published protest-related stories from the website that were written by reporters who had shown support for Johnson.

Executive Editor Keith Burris and Managing Editor Karen Kane could not be reached for comment. Tracey DeAngelo, the Post-Gazette’s vice president and general manager, could not be reached.

“I never expected to be here in front of you guys today,” Johnson said at a Monday morning guild press conference held on the North Shore and livestreamed on the guild’s Instagram page. “None of you should be here today. We should all be covering … one of the biggest moments of our generation.”

Johnson said she thought her tweet was clever and food for thought. She said she has asked management how the tweet showed bias but “never really got a clear answer.”

She said as a black woman, a native Pittsburgher, and the daughter of a retired state trooper and a retired probation officer, she is disappointed she can’t bring her life experiences to her reporting.

Fuoco said management further killed two stories by other reporters that were set to run the following day. A black photographer, Michael Santiago, inexplicably was pulled off an assignment to cover protests in Pittsburgh on Saturday, according to the guild, and no photographers were assigned to any of the weekend protests.

Santiago said he is disappointed to be on the sidelines while such a global story is playing out on local streets, and he said he hasn’t gotten a clear reason as to why he was pulled off protest coverage.

“It’s disappointing we’re here talking about this instead of what’s going on,” Santiago said.

In their statement, guild leadership called the moves by management “discriminatory, retaliatory actions” that are “unconscionable and morally and ethically bankrupt.”

The Pittsburgh guild’s parent unions, the Communication Workers of America and the NewsGuild-CWA, also issued statements supporting Johnson and condemning Post-Gazette management.

“This was a mistake, limiting local coverage — especially by Black journalists — on a huge news story,” union leaders wrote in a joint statement.

Local union leaders pointed to support for Johnson voiced by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Scranton), Mayor Bill Peduto and others.

In addition to the demand for Johnson and Santiago to be permitted to “cover the most monumental civil rights movement in more than 50 years,” guild leaders called on management to stop retaliating against those who support Johnson and Santiago and “fulfill your mission by adequately and ethically covering the protests and related issues.”

They also called on advertisers to contact management to voice their support for the reporters and union.

“Only in this way,” they wrote, “can management resolve a crisis of its own making and can the Post-Gazette go back to truly reporting the news rather than sadly making it.”

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