The Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette lives!
Set to close early on May 3, the venerable 340-year-old publication has been sold by the family-owned Block Communications Inc. to the Venetoulis Institute
for Local Journalism, publisher of The Baltimore Banner, Post-Gazette reports.
The sale of the assets will be effective May 4. Terms were not
disclosed.
The newsroom and business leadership will remain in Pittsburgh, while technology and other back-office operations will be integrated into the Venetoulis Institute.
The
Venetoulis Institute said it will maintain the Post-Gazette’s two print editions, on Thursday and Sunday.
It was not known at deadline how many Post-Gazette
staffers will survive the transition. All of the reported 171 were to be laid off if the publication closed in May.
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The founder and chairman of the Venetoulis
Institute, Stewart W. Bainum Jr., has been known for building The Baltimore Banner staff.
Toledo, Ohio-based Block Communications will continue to own
The Toledo Blade.
“The Block family has worked to find the best possible source for responsible local journalism for the Pittsburgh region and we believe we have
succeeded,” Karen Johnese, chair of Block Communications, said in a release. “We are excited to hand our treasured paper over to such a committed and creative organization."
Johnese adds, “We trust in their integrity and care for our community.”
Of course, the backstory is not so benign. There was a bitter three-year strike and family
squabbles.
“Over the past 20 years, Block Communications has lost more than $350 million in cash operating the Post-Gazette,” the company said in a press release in
January. “Despite those efforts, the realities facing local journalism make continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable.”
In November 2025, the 3rd Circuit Court
ordered the Post-Gazette to compensate staff members for workers’ rights violations committed over the last five years, thus upholding a September 2024 ruling by the
National Labor Relations Board. The Gazette announced it would appeal the decision up to the Supreme Court and that it would close the newspaper if it lost. It did lose.
However, it is now being praised for selling to the Venetoulis Institute.
“The Block family’s approach in selecting the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism reflects a
forward-looking perspective on the future of the Post-Gazette,” says Tracey DeAngelo, president and general manager, in a prepared statement. “Their work in Baltimore has earned deep
respect, and the quality of journalism they have built in a relatively short time makes them a thoughtful and capable steward of this legacy.”
Bainum, described as a Maryland hotel
magnate and philanthropist, has been a player in the news industry at least since 2021, when he and Hansjorg Wyss bid $680 million for Tribune Publishing. But the Tribune board accepted the $635
million offered by Alden Global Capital.
Bainum also sought to take over The Baltimore Sun, which was part of Tribune Publishing at that time.
“Is there a
solution to local news in this country?” Bainum wondered in 2020. “Polarization keeps going up; understanding in the community is going down. People on one side of town aren’t
hearing what people on the other side of town are saying."
“I said, ‘Wait a minute: let’s do a startup, a sustainable business model at scale that could be replicated across
the country,’ ” he said.
The Banner was launched 2022. It has won a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, and now has 79,500 paid subscribers and 4.1 million average monthly
page views, the Post-Gazette writes.
“We aspire to build a culture that’s transparent, collaborative and ambitious and has a sense of urgency and respects
everybody,” Bainum said in an interview with the Post-Gazette. “The test is not whether you’re for-profit or nonprofit, but whether you’re providing high
quality journalism to communities that need it most.”