By Mari Hansen When a newsroom is informed that it is closing, a certain silence descends upon it. Everyone who has worked there is aware of it. Deadlines and phones continue to ring, but there’s a change in the atmosphere—a sort of held breath.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a newspaper that predates the US Constitution and is set to release its last edition on May 3, had been under threat for months. Then it didn’t have to, with timing that was almost cinematic.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Newspaper | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
| Founded | 1786 (as The Pittsburgh Gazette) |
| Previous Owner | Block Communications (since 1927) |
| New Owner | Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism |
| Parent of New Owner | Operates the Baltimore Banner |
| Backed By | Stewart W. Bainum Jr., hotel magnate |
| Reported Losses | More than $350 million over two decades |
| Original Closure Date | May 3, 2026 |
| Transaction Effective | May 4, 2026 |
| Print Schedule | Continuing Thursdays and Sundays |
| Pulitzer Record | Multiple Pulitzer Prizes |
| Status | Will operate as a nonprofit newsroom |
The nonprofit organization in the Baltimore area that runs the Baltimore Banner, the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, announced on Tuesday that it had reached a deal with Block Communications to buy the Post-Gazette’s assets and keep it operating as a nonprofit. One day after the paper was scheduled to go dark, on May 4, the agreement goes into effect. There won’t be a gap. The name remains the same. The print editions on Thursday and Sunday remain. According to the new owners, the majority of the newsroom will be rehired.
It’s the type of save that appears neat on paper but is incredibly disorganized underneath. The newsroom was embroiled in one of the most acrimonious labor disputes in contemporary American journalism, a strike that continued for more than three years after the company terminated employees’ health insurance.
Block had spent more than $350 million over the course of twenty years to keep the paper afloat. Only in November of last year did journalists resume their jobs following an appeals court’s decision that the company had engaged in bad faith negotiations. The Supreme Court refused to intervene. By January, Block was using those same court rulings as justification for closing everything.
Thus, the Venetoulis Institute did more than simply purchase a newspaper. According to a 2025 Northwestern study, it purchased a lengthy and intricate tale of unpaid wages that are still outstanding, a union that has every reason to be suspicious, and a city that witnessed the collapse of its only significant daily while the nation lost over 130 newspapers in the last year alone. The Institute wasn’t even the highest bidder, according to the company’s CEO, Allan Block. Nevertheless, the board chose them, placing a wager on stewardship rather than cost. It’s the kind of choice you make when you’re worn out and want your creation to outlive you.
It’s remarkable how much of this depends on the financial resources and convictions of one individual. The hotel executive Stewart Bainum Jr., who is funding the Institute, has been discreetly constructing something that resembles a thesis rather than philanthropy: that legacy newspapers can endure if they are completely removed from the profit-extraction model. At just four years old, The Banner has already received a Pulitzer Prize. Pittsburgh comes next.
It remains to be seen if it is effective. The CEO of the Institute, Bob Cohn, has been cautious not to overstate what lies ahead by discussing time, discipline, and the difficult process of reestablishing trust. The news guild in Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is optimistic but indifferent because millions of dollars in contested wages are still at stake and many wounded people are waiting to see what happens next. Nobody seems to want to celebrate too loudly. Superstitious people work in newsrooms. However, this is noteworthy for a city that was just hours away from becoming the biggest metro in America without a major daily. Perhaps a great deal.