On the 29th of July 1786, a four-page weekly called The Pittsburgh Gazette hit the streets, marking the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains. This publication was not merely a local bulletin but a foundational document for the young nation, as it was one of the first to print the newly adopted Constitution of the United States. The paper was established by Joseph Hall and John Scull with the encouragement of Hugh Henry Brackenridge, setting a precedent for journalism in the expanding frontier. By 1833, under the editorship of Neville B. Craig, the Gazette evolved into the city's first daily paper, issued every afternoon except Sunday, championing the Anti-Masonic movement and later helping to organize a local chapter of the Republican Party. The paper's early editorial stance was conservative and strongly favoring the Whig Party, and it was among the first to suggest that tensions between the North and South would erupt into war. In 1844, the Gazette switched its daily issue time to morning and absorbed the Advocate, further solidifying its role in the region's political landscape. By the 1850s, the paper was credited with contributing to the election of Abraham Lincoln, demonstrating its significant influence on national politics from its humble beginnings.
Mergers and Rivalries
The 1920s were a time of intense consolidation in the Pittsburgh newspaper market, culminating in the formation of the Post-Gazette under its present title in 1927. This new entity emerged from the consolidation of the Pittsburgh Gazette Times and The Pittsburgh Post, a merger orchestrated by Paul Block and William Randolph Hearst. Block, who had acquired the morning Post and evening Sun, swapped the Sun in return for Hearst's Gazette Times, combining the morning papers to form the Post-Gazette. Hearst, on the other hand, united the evening papers, creating the Sun-Telegraph. Both new papers debuted on the 2nd of August 1927, marking a significant shift in the local media landscape. The Post-Gazette's history is also marked by its rivalry with the Pittsburgh Press, which led to a joint operating agreement in 1961. This agreement combined their production and advertising sales operations, with the Post-Gazette owning and operating its own news and editorial departments while the Press handled production and distribution. The agreement stayed in place for over 30 years, providing the Post-Gazette with a new home in the Press building, a comfortable upgrade from the hated Sun-Telly barn. However, the financial challenges and labor costs associated with this arrangement would eventually lead to significant changes in the paper's operations.The Long Strike
On the 6th of October 2022, the advertising, distribution, and production workers at the Post-Gazette went on strike, a move that would extend for three years until the 24th of November 2025. The strike was a response to the paper's financial challenges and labor costs, which had been a persistent issue since the paper resumed printing in 1993. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) pursued a case against the paper, charging unfair practices, and in April 2024, the NLRB authorized a request from the newspaper's unions to seek a temporary injunction against the Post-Gazette ownership for violating workers' labor rights. The strike ended on the 24th of November 2025, as the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the earlier finding of an administrative law judge that PG Publishing, the owners of the Post-Gazette, had violated federal labor law by negotiating in bad faith with the paper's union. The striking workers returned to work after striking for three years, and the Union's striking paper, Pittsburgh Union Progress, closed down on the 23rd of November, just before workers returned. The strike highlighted the deep-seated issues within the newspaper industry, particularly the struggle between management and labor in the face of declining revenues and changing media consumption habits.