Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to cease publication on May 3, owner says

Block Communications Inc., the family-owned company that operates The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, said on Wednesday that the newspaper would cease publication on Sunday, May 3, signaling the end of a paper whose origins date to 1786.

The company said it had lost more than $350 million over the past 20 years while publishing the newspaper and that the financial pressures facing local journalism had made "continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable." Block also cited recent court decisions that it said would require The Post-Gazette to operate under the terms of a 2014 labor contract, which it described as imposing "outdated and inflexible operational practices."

Block said the Post-Gazette’s closure will not affect The Toledo Blade in Ohio, which the company also owns. The company is based in Toledo.

The Block family said it regretted how the loss of the newspaper would affect the communities it has served and said it was "proud of the service The Post-Gazette has provided to Pittsburgh for nearly a century." This is a developing story.

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Business, Pittsburgh Post-gazette, Block Communications, Pittsburgh, Toledo Blade, Local Journalism