The coming asset sale of the Post-Gazette to a Baltimore nonprofit is a win-win with a wildcard for Greater Pittsburgh.
Block Communications of Toledo, the P-G’s owner for a century, was ready to close the paper next month in the face of long-running organized labor strife. But it has reached an agreement (financial terms not disclosed) with the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, publisher of the upstart (but already Pulitzer Prize-winning) Baltimore Banner – to take over the P-G effective May 4.
To its credit, Block could have, but did not, sell to a hedge fund that would have garnered what it says would have been a much higher price and whose primary goal might not have been preserving good journalism (or journalism at all).
The P-G’s local newsroom and business management will remain in place and most of the current employees are expected to be retained. Current staffers have begun interviewing for jobs with the new owner.
Win No. 1: An important reporting resource, one with vast knowledge of the area, is saved. And the specter of it being lost prompted the Tribune-Review, now modernly known as TribLive, to re-up its Pittsburgh efforts after scaling them back a decade ago. Public officials and proposed public policies will have continued, increased scrutiny. And that will better serve the public.
Win No. 2: Scores of professional jobs will be saved. Indeed, some job cuts might happen initially. But the new owners, who operate a robust newsroom in Baltimore, expect those jobs to be restored once the new P-G breaks even, something they see happening in a few short years. That’s good news for the employees and their families and great news for a stagnant Pittsburgh economy that too often has bordered on retreat.
The wildcard: The P-G is reported to remain responsible for millions of dollars in payments to the union in the aftermath of National Labor Relations Board and appeals court rulings regarding unfair labor practices. But reports have it that the new owner is not bound by the pre-sale union accord. While it says if a majority of the newsroom wants union representation, it will work with it. But that’s far from a given considering the union’s standing with a majority of the employees is poor at best. The Baltimore Banner is not a union shop.
Will the union try to muddy the deal with a legal challenge? After all, it has already, incorrectly, been more than intimating that the new owner is responsible for paying the unfair labor practices settlement.
The Post-Gazette has been given a new lease on life through a nonprofit that clearly appears to have the best interests of the P-G and the public at heart. We wish it – and the Trib’s expanded Pittsburgh coverage – every success. For their success will be the public’s through healthy media competition and demanding greater accountability from public officials who promulgate public policy.
Let no one put such a positive development asunder – especially not a union that is as disorganized as it is disingenuous.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
