Two of Pittsburgh’s most prominent newspapers recently announced they would be closing.

Exactly one week apart, Block Communications, Inc. revealed its plans to shut down two of their subsidiaries, the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh journalists and media organizations are figuring out how to fill the loss of two significant local news sources in the region.

On Dec. 31, City Paper news editor Colin Williams announced that the paper would be closing after 34-years in business. Later that day, Block Communications released a statement affirming the paper would shut down “effective immediately.”

On Jan. 7, Block Communications announced their decision to terminate its other Pittsburgh media organization, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on May 3, 2026. In a press release, Block Communications attributed the decision to financial losses allegedly totalling more than $350 million over the past two decades.

Andrew Goldstein, writer for the Post-Gazette and president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, said the shutting down of the two papers is in line with the current state of media, referring to the statistic that, in the U.S., an average of more than two newspapers per week closed over the course of 2025.

“This is very much a microcosm of what’s happening in this industry today,” Goldstein said. “Newspapers are under attack almost everywhere.”

Referencing the outlet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Tree of Life coverage, Goldstein said he is concerned about the potential loss of media representation in the community.

“It wasn’t about the awards so much — it was about the quality of coverage and bringing the community together and making sure that we had a voice and our stories were being told,” Goldstein said. “Yes, there are other entities capable of doing some of that, but there is nothing that has the size and resources and capacity like the Post-Gazette.”

Despite Block Communications not speaking publicly about possible alternatives to a complete shutdown, Goldstein said he and his colleagues at the Newspaper Guild are actively searching for a solution.

“We have a lot of people who are working very hard to seek solutions,” Goldstein said. “Whether that is having the Blocks stay involved, but maybe with other investors, and keep the paper open [or] whether that’s a sale of the Post-Gazette to another entity of some sort.”

The announcement came less than two months after workers returned to the Post-Gazette following a three-year long strike largely over health care coverage and working conditions. 

In November, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the union, ordering Block Communications to reinstate a previous labor contract, and the strikers returned to the Post-Gazette. Block Communications appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied the appeal on Jan. 7, and announced the Post-Gazette’s closure less than three hours later.

In a press release, Block Communications said that the contract was “outdated” and would impose “inflexible operational practices unsuited for today’s local journalism.”

In an interview with City Cast Pittsburgh, Williams said that although the closure announcement was “sudden,” he was not surprised by Block Communications’ decision regarding the Post-Gazette.

“My take is that it was building behind the scenes and they just decided to pull the plug,” Williams said. “They had been threatening for a while that they were gonna shut it down if the strikers [won and] came back.”

Although the strike and the family’s financial decisions were specific to the Block corporation, Williams said he believes these closures showcase a changing news ecosystem.

“One of the things I think this all reveals is the old ways of journalism are well and truly dead, and it’s not always the fault of people who are in charge,” Williams said. “But, in this particular case, I did not see a lot of positive signs that the outlets that [Block Communications] owned were heading toward a sustainable future,” Williams said. 

Amid two large losses for Pittsburgh media, others in the community have taken this opportunity to promote local outlets that are still standing. Pittsburgh’s Public Source published a list of local news organizations for Pittsburgh residents to utilize in lieu of the Post-Gazette and City Paper.

Hallie Stockton, Public Source’s editor-in-chief and co-executive director, said the city of Pittsburgh will lose something different with the closures of each of these two papers.

“It creates even more gaps in daily journalism and longer-term journalism, in all levels of civic life here,” Stockton said. “When you lose that focus on arts and culture [with the City Paper], you’re losing a lot of that focus on the vibrancy of a place and diversity of a place,” Stockton said. “With the Post-Gazette, [the city is losing] municipal coverage, criminal justice [and] tech development [coverage].”

While financial support from advertising and other companies is important, Stockton said maintaining audience support is more crucial than ever.

“We need the people of a region to see journalism — local journalism, about their world, the place that they live and work and play — as something that they want to support,” Stockton said. “[There’s] an increase in that understanding by individuals that, if they want that kind of journalism to serve them in the most relevant way, that they will step up and support it.”

Luis Fabregas, executive editor at TribLIVE, said, while the City Paper and Post-Gazette are large losses for the city, there are many other organizations ready to “step up.”

“We need to reassure the public that, yes, they are going to be losing an institution that’s very dear and near to them,” Fabregas said. “But they also need to understand that there are a lot of people working behind the scenes to ensure that there’s not a void, that there’s not a lack of journalism in the city of Pittsburgh.”

Despite following a seemingly recent trend, Fabregas said he does not believe these closures are suggestive of a declining need or want for local news.

“I think local news is, today, more important than ever,” Fabregas said. “In this day and age, people are demanding a free press. People are demanding that journalists ask questions. People are demanding that journalists hold government and organizations accountable.”