Jan. 18, 2018 – The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has taken the unusual step of slamming an editorial that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Martin Luther King Day.
“As a matter of course, the Guild does not weigh in on editorial positions, but this piece is so extraordinary in its mindless, sycophantic embrace of racist values and outright bigotry espoused by this country’s President that we would be morally, journalistically, and humanly remiss not to speak out against it,” the local wrote in a Jan. 16 letter to the editor.
The paper refused to publish the union’s response. “Publisher John Robinson Block, the man behind the reprehensible editorial ‘Reason as Racism’ that ran on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, has rejected the attached letter to the editor from 150 PG newsroom employees represented by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh,” the local wrote on its website, above a copy of the letter.
“This editorial is a blight on the 231 years of service the Post-Gazette has provided its readers,” the union’s letter to the editor said. “Over its long life, it has railed against racism and supported civil rights and justice for all. Given this history, the shameful and unconscionable editorial that ran on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, of all days, is an abomination that cannot go without condemnation from journalists committed to fairness, accuracy and decency. To be clear, no member of the Newspaper Guild had anything to do with that editorial and we stand together in solidarity against the bigotry, hatred and divisiveness it engenders.
“Our hope is that, like us, readers of the Post-Gazette will decry this lapse in promoting common decency, equal opportunity and justice across our great land and the world. This editorial and its sentiments solely represent the opinions of the Block family, owners of the Post-Gazette, and not their loyal employees who use our talents to fight against what this editorial stands for.”
The Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation also condemned the editorial, as did a group of former Post-Gazette staffers, members of the Block family and numerous individuals.