Last week I went to a “Town Hall” which was advertised as an opportunity for the people currently operating the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PG) to introduce themselves to the general public and to solicit feedback from the community regarding its coverage of local news. This specific Town Hall was conducted at the Mt. Lebanon Library for the benefit of folks in the South Hills. Two other similar events will be held elsewhere in Allegheny County. It was well attended; perhaps one third of the audience were current or previous PG employees.
Earlier this year Block Communications, the owner of the PG, announced they were shutting down the newspaper, based on continuous financial losses in recent years. The PG was proud of being the final surviving descendant of Pittsburgh’s first newspaper, the Pittsburgh Gazette, founded in 1896 by Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Fortunately, the Venetoulis Institute, a non-profit organization “dedicated to growing independent local journalism, strengthening communities, and making an impact” came to the rescue and negotiated a deal that permitted the PG to survive. In 2022 the Institute launched an online news service in Maryland named “The Baltimore Banner” which it has operated successfully since then. Acquisition of the PG is their first attempt to diversify into other markets. They have pledged about $30 million annually for five years to operate the Post-Gazette, and are committed to reaching a “break even” point for revenue and expenses for the newspaper.
The meeting was opened by a familiar face, Brandon McGinley. Currently Assistant Managing Editor for Opinion & Community for the new PG, he was Editorial Page Editor for the previous paper, where he produced an excellent editorial section in the Sunday edition each week. The Institute has based its model on “unbiased, independent information” and has eliminated editorial opinion from the current PG.(This policy apparently doesn’t apply to the Sports Section). Consequently Mr. McGinley’s primary responsibility is to produce three objective columns each week dealing with city and county issues. He reported his personal experience anticipating the arrival of a paper at his front door every morning and his appreciation that the PG had survived and was continuing that tradition (albeit only twice a week).
Mr. McGinley then introduced Ms. Audrey Cooper, editor-in-chief of The Baltimore Banner. She has been heavily involved in the transition of the PG from being a profit center in the Block Communications organization to becoming a non-profit project of the Venetoulis Institute. She highlighted the difficulties faced by journalists in an environment dominated by on-line digital media and characterized by the disappearance of civil conversation. She reported that the Institute felt that Western Pennsylvania was the ideal place to test their model of influencing public opinion with a non-profit organization providing objective news in an old-fashioned civil style.
Ms. Cooper then introduced three senior PG employees and asked each of them to discuss the status of their specific areas. First was “Mike”, the Assistant Managing Editor/Investigations; I believe he is Michael D. Sallah, Sr. He discussed the concept of investigative reporting, highlighting their current series on the measles epidemic and the anti-vaccination movement. Next was another “Mike”, probably Mike Wereschagin, the Assistant Managing Editor/Power & Policy. He discussed the challenge of effectively reporting news in the political area, whether it be local, state, or national.
The third employee was Christopher Carter, a sports reporter assigned to Steeler football and University of Pittsburgh athletics. I am a fan of both programs and consequently am well acquainted with his work. His discussion focused on intimidation (actual and/or implied). It is difficult for a sports reporter to retain access to information regarding specific athletes when sometimes the writer must report negative news about them. More serious can be the similar situation when dealing with a powerful organization like Pitt or the Steelers.
Ms. Cooper then asked the panel to discuss the amount of editing that is required for a typical article to be published. The consensus was that editing is an essential part of producing an acceptable news article, which they consider to be “the first draft of history”. Their example was the recent article regarding the discrepancy between the City of Pittsburgh’s budget as reported by previous mayor Ed Gainey and audited by current mayor Corey O’Connor. It was initially edited for accuracy, focusing on fact checking; then for clarity; and finally for style. It is my opinion the quality of writing that the current implementation of this process produces is significantly inferior to that of several generations ago, probably the consequence of cost-cutting.
They then opened the program for questions and comments from the audience. Unfortunately, these were dominated by the PG employees, with very few relevant to the South Hills customer base. One questioner complained that Mr. McGinley’s column represented a Conservative attitude and recommended matching it with columns from a Progressive approach. I was surprised to hear him being accused of being a Conservative; I consider him an objective Moderate. Another comment was the suggestion that the newspaper employ an editor specializing on business development.
During the discussion Ms. Cooper made some interesting comments. She said the newspaper had given up attempting to appeal to 20-year-olds and was focusing on folks in their mid-30s. She also said that their business model was based on revenue from subscriptions (50 %), advertising (20 %), and philanthropic donations (30 %). She reported that the Pittsburgh area was well known for its philanthropists and their support of worthy non-profit organizations.
The concept of town halls is a sound one; I don’t feel that this one achieved the purposes for which it was announced. I suspect they need a different mechanism for feedback, perhaps in the form of written questionnaires with a commitment to have someone respond to each one. Yesterday I received an on-line survey of this type and promptly filled it out. We will see if they do indeed respond.