PITTSBURGH — A group of journalists, labor leaders and community members is looking for a path forward as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette prepares to shut down.
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On Thursday, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members and supporters announced plans for the Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting, also known as PAPER.
Not a publication itself, PAPER is an initiative to research and pursue a daily news alternative to the Post-Gazette, which will publish its final edition later this year.
Money raised for PAPER will help organize events to gather more community input, a release from the Newspaper Guild says.
“We believe there’s a way to tap into that deep well of strength and resilience, to recognize it in our communities, to reach out and engage everyday people in solving looming problems, like this city’s loss of a major source of news and information,” Post-Gazette multimedia journalist Steve Mellon said. “That’s the spirit in which PAPER was born.”
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Post-Gazette workers had begun returning to work in November after a three-year-long strike over contract issues. But on Jan. 7, the Post-Gazette’s owner, Block Communications Inc., announced the 240-year-old newspaper would cease operations on May 3.
The closure announcement came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected BCI’s attempt to change health insurance coverage for union workers.
In the announcement’s wake, some Post-Gazette workers have called for new leadership at the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, claiming the union had misrepresented the majority of members’ opinions.
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