FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Dylan Manshack (dmanshack@cwa-union.org), NewsGuild Communications, 202-445-4033
The Venetoulis Institute has acquired the Pulitzer Prize-winning PG staff to keep the paper alive. It has also indicated it will cut jobs.
PITTSBURGH — Post-Gazette workers were informed on Tuesday morning that the publication was sold to the Venetoulis Institute, the owners of the Baltimore Banner.
We are excited for this historic institution to survive, and eager to ensure that it operates in a way that respects the people of Pittsburgh, and the journalists who strive to serve them.
Banner leadership has already publicly indicated that it intends to cut jobs and not uphold our union contract.
“The Post-Gazette staying open is a win for Pittsburgh, and we are glad to see that legacy continue into the future,” said Andrew Goldstein, PG education reporter and president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “The community has made it clear over the past several months that it wants a newspaper that serves the needs of the people. That requires a robust staff that has the freedom to pursue the truth under dignified working conditions.”
Asset sales do not inherently get companies out from under the legal liabilities they have already incurred. The Nov. 10, 2025, U.S. 3rd Circuit Court ruling requires the company to pay back all bargaining unit employees for the costs the paper illegally passed onto them. That liability does not go away with the sale of the paper. PG Publishing Co. continues to owe its workers several million dollars, and the enforcement of unfair labor practice rulings, including a requirement to bargain in good faith, remains.
On Jan. 7, hours after having an appeal to further deny workers collectively bargained health care denied by the U.S. Supreme Court and opposed by the U.S. Solicitor General, the PG announced it would be closing effective May 3. That announcement followed a nearly decade-long attempt to bust unions at the paper.
In July of 2020, the Post-Gazette illegally tore up the previously collective bargained union contract governing working conditions at the paper and unilaterally imposed work rules that worsened health care coverage and other benefits. Workers went on strike for more than three years over the company’s illegal behavior. The strike followed more than 20 years in which workers did not receive any across-the-board wage increases as they bargained in the spirit of shared sacrifice to sustain the paper and continue providing news for Pittsburgh readers.
Shortly after the Jan. 7 announcement, members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and supporters of local journalism came together to form the Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting, seeking to explore alternatives to the Block-owned PG that would serve as a source of communication and connection that reflects the needs of working-class people in the region.
Last week, PAPER hosted a town hall attended by about 100 people at 1Hood’s Blaxk Box Theater. Participants ranged in age from their teens to their 80s, and nearly universally expressed a need for deep, local coverage that listens to communities the Post-Gazette has ignored, misrepresented, and chosen to harm.
“Everyone invested in the future of Pittsburgh journalism needs to listen very closely to what the people of Pittsburgh are saying,” said Erin Hebert, copy editor and first vice president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “It’s good business. We’re happy to be a part of that process and strongly encourage our new owners to show they are willing to work with our union in good faith by listening to the community as we move forward.”
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