The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, one of the oldest newspapers in the country, will end its run later this year after 240 years in operation.
On January 7, Block Communications Inc, the paper's owners, announced that the final issue of the Post-Gazette will run on Sunday, May 3. The total number of people losing their jobs is unclear.
In its statement, Block says that it has lost more than $350 million over the last 20 years through the newspaper's operation, and determined that "continued cash losses at this scale [are] no longer sustainable."
The death of the Post-Gazette marks the bitter end of a years-long labor battle between the paper's striking workers — who were asking for management to honor their collective bargaining contracts and demanding better wages and working conditions — and the paper's owner, Block Communications.
After a more than three year legal battle, a court ruled in the union's favor in November. Block appealed the ruling, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt the court's order.
Approximately a month after the ruling — with no other viable means of beating the union — Block chose just to kill the paper, blaming the workers for its closure.
"Recent court decisions would require the Post-Gazette to operate under a 2014 labor contract that imposes on the Post-Gazette outdated and inflexible operational practices unsuited for today’s local journalism," the statement says. "We deeply regret the impact this decision will have on Pittsburgh and the surrounding region."
Ed Blazina, a transit reporter at the Post-Gazette who joined the company in 1992, told the New York Times that he hoped the paper could continue in some form.
“I feel sorry for the people in the Pittsburgh area,” Blazina said. “Democracy doesn’t continue when there’s no light shining on it.”
The Post-Gazette as it is today is the result of several newspaper mergers over the years. The paper's DNA stretched back to the original Pittsburgh Gazette, which was founded in 1786.
As of 2026, the Post-Gazette has a paid circulation of approximately 83,000. It runs two print editions each week and publishes online daily. The paper has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes, including an award for its coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in 2018.
Yinzers aren't just losing the Post-Gazette this year; they're also losing the Pittsburgh City Paper.
On December 31, Block Communications — which owns the City Paper through a subsidiary company — announced that publication would also cease operation, WESA reports.
Block bought the City Paper in 2023 from the Butler Eagle. While the Post-Gazette served as the city's flagship daily paper-of-record, the City Paper was its alt-weekly, diving deep into Pittsburgh's neighborhoods, characters, and artists.
“This is a loss for us, but it's a bigger loss for Pittsburgh readers,” City Paper editor Colin Williams posted on Bluesky. “This city deserves better.”
By summer, both will be gone.
In addition to the Post-Gazette and the City Paper, Block also owns a third iconic newspaper: the Toledo Blade in Toledo, Ohio.
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