Newspaper News: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Lives! The Star Returns to Washington, D.C.!
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Early this year it was reported that Block Communications had decided to shut down the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette following court decisions that favored the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh over the newspaper.
Now The New York Times’ Katie Robertson is reporting (or here) that:
The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, which runs The Baltimore Banner and is financed by the hotel magnate Stewart W. Bainum Jr., said on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the newspaper’s current owner, Block Communications, to buy the assets of The Post-Gazette and run it as a nonprofit. The transaction is expected to take effect on May 4, ensuring there is no gap in publishing.
That reverses the decision to shutter the Post-Gazette as an online and print newspaper. The new owners will continue the twice-a-week print schedule for the Pittsburgh newspaper, and hopefully its comics pages.
While the Block company has taken its fair share of shots over the years, they fired Rob Rogers as the Post-Gazette editorial cartoonist for attacking Trump in his cartoons, we must give the company props for taking the Venetoulis offer over other groups with more money who were expressing interest:
In an interview, Mr. Bainum said, “The Block family should be recognized for selling this at a huge discount for the price they could have received.” He added, “One, they care about the metro area and the Pittsburgh community, and, two, they trust us to deliver on our promises.”
A person close to the transaction said another bidder for The Post-Gazette was Alden Global Capital, an investment firm that has bought dozens of newspapers around the country. An Alden representative did not reply to a request for comment.
Or, as Angela Fu at Poynter put it:
The Times reported that in accepting the deal with the Venetoulis Institute, Block forewent larger offers from other bidders. One of those bidders was notorious investment firm Alden Global Capital, which is known for making cuts to the papers it acquires.
In buying the Post-Gazette, the Venetoulis Institute may also be acquiring the paper’s complicated relationship with its union, although the Banner’s story about the deal states that the institute will not be required to take on the contracts of Block Communications.
Following a trend in newspapers the new Post-Gazette will be run as a non-profit.
Sophie Culpepper for NiemanLab also carries the story:
According to the Post-Gazette’s reporting, Venetoulis plans to continue the newspaper’s two print publication days; Jones confirmed those plans. While the Times reported that new ownership plans to hire back “a large number” of the Post-Gazette’s employees and run advertising and sponsorships locally, Bainum told the Post-Gazette that the “current business model does not support the size of the current newsroom,” which stands at around 100, adding, “We’re going to have to thoughtfully address that.” Jones said it’s “too early to know” how many Post-Gazette employees Venetoulis will rehire.
Forty-five years ago The Washington Star died an ignoble death along with other afternoon newspapers.
Now the famed Washington, D.C. newspaper is being reborn after a fashion as an online site takes on the title.
Once again we turn to Katie Robertson at The New York Times (or here):
NOTUS, a Washington political news website with ambitious plans to fill a void it says was left by deep cuts at The Washington Post, will be renamed The Star and relaunch in the first week of June, the editor in chief, Tim Grieve, said on Thursday.
NOTUS started in 2023 as a publication tied to the Allbritton Journalism Institute, a nonprofit that trains young political journalists. Its name stands for News of the United States, a play on the nickname for the President of the United States. It was created with a $20 million grant from Robert Allbritton, the billionaire co-founder of Politico.
Part of the new NOTUS plan was to rename the outlet to appeal to a broader audience. They settled on The Star for its simplicity. Mr. Allbritton’s father, Joe Allbritton, also once owned The Washington Star, a daily afternoon newspaper that stopped publishing in 1981.
NOTUS, soon renamed The Star, is taking on more as The Washington Post cuts back on newsrooms.
feature image of the April 15, 2026 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via Newseum Front Pages
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