Post-Gazette reducing print edition to 2 days a week, cites plan to go all-digital

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is scaling back its print edition to two days a week as part of the 235-year-old newspaper’s transition to an all-digital news operation, documents show.

The plan is to eliminate its Friday print edition beginning Feb. 27, according to a letter from Post-Gazette’s human resources manager provided by the newsroom’s employee union.

Without other changes, that would leave only a Thursday and Sunday edition in print.

“These actions by the company are part of the company’s entrepreneurial and First Amendment decision to deliver our news content exclusively online,” states the letter, which was signed by Carolyn J. Rice of the company’s human resources department. It’s addressed to Ed Blazina of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which represents reporters, photographers, copy editors and other newsroom employees.

Representatives for P-G management and its parent company, Block Communications, did not immediately return requests for comment late Wednesday.

“We are prepared to discuss effects the company’s decision will have on your bargaining unit,” the company’s letter to Blazina states.

Though the letter is dated Dec. 31, the Guild took to Twitter to say its members just received it on Wednesday. The Guild lamented that at the end of next month, the P-G’s Friday edition is set to be slashed “from their already diminished printing schedule.”

The move follows a series of cuts to the P-G’s print product in recent years.

In August 2018, the Post-Gazette stopped publishing its print edition on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with the owners and managers citing rising production costs and the goal of increasing its focus on digital news platforms. In October 2019, two more days of print editions were slashed, leaving three daily editions a week.

The reduction comes amid ongoing turmoil between the P-G’s employees and upper management and the Block family, which has owned the Post-Gazette since 1927.

Last year, union members voted they had “no confidence” in the paper’s leadership. That vote was followed by a monthlong byline strike.

In July, the Guild accused Post-Gazette management of unlawfully declaring an impasse and implementing management’s proposed cuts to health benefits, severance packages and vacation time. Management also sought to eliminate the right to dispute issues through grievances and arbitration.

Efforts have been in the works among union leaders to prepare for a possible work stoppage strike. The Guild authorized the strike in August in response to what union leaders described as management’s unfair labor practices and negotiating tactics and a hostile work environment.