A void to fill in Pittsburgh
The announcement by Block Communications this week that it would cease publication of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette generated despair in the journalism world. As Joshua Benton of Nieman Lab asked: “Will Pittsburgh become America’s most important city without a newspaper?”
It’s interesting, though, that this is framed as a question, as opposed to a fait accompli. Benton, who once worked for the Block family at the Post-Gazette’s sister paper in Toledo, writes that there’s “pent up” capacity for some kind of replacement for the paper, perhaps one run by a nonprofit.
Ed Blazina, News Guild vice president and a longtime transportation reporter, made a similar observation to Pittsburgh’s Public Source, saying he thinks someone will step in to “fill the void. … I can’t believe that the city and the foundation community would allow a city of this size to exist without a daily newspaper.”
Hopeful voices were also featured in a piece by Julia Maruca at Pittsburgh’s WESA. Tom Davidson, a professor of media business at Penn State, lamented the loss but said it may not be “ the final act of this play.”
“ One would imagine any number of other parties may be interested in talking with the Blocks about possibly purchasing some or all of the assets of the paper. There are still a lot of open questions,” Davidson said. “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this story yet.”
- Listen: The impact of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shutting down (Here & Now / WBUR)
News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.
Civic Discourse & Democracy
>> How journalists should cover ICE’s fatal shooting of a civilian in Minneapolis (Poynter)
Covering a fatal use of force by any law enforcement officer is “the most basic form of holding power to account,” writes Poynter’s Kelly McBride, who outlines what she calls a “familiar but urgent set of ethical decisions.”
- Related: Cable news networks scramble to cover fatal Minnesota ICE shooting — with both caution and commentary (The Guardian)
- Also: People are using AI to falsely identify the federal agent who shot Renee Good (Wired)
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Culture & Inclusion
>> Youth media and the future of news (Nieman Reports)
Media organizations and funders need to “proactively involve young people in journalism,” writes Leah Clapman, the founder and executive director of PBS News Student Reporting Labs. She lays out a number of initiatives that aren’t just “cute experiments” — rather they involve young people in the practice, process and ethics of reporting and make them feel like they have a stake in the future of journalism.
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Community Engagement & Trust
>> API in the news: Turning back the clock — At Newsday, a nostalgia beat brings massive traffic (Medill Local News Initiative)
Newsday has tapped into Long Island’s rich history with a nostalgia beat, Eric Rynston-Lobel writes. Shawna VanNess, Newsday’s associate managing editor, tells him that the beat is “low-hanging fruit” that contains stories of places and institutions that have stood the test of time. API’s Emily Ristow says such an initiative is easily replicable for other newsrooms, especially legacy organizations that have lots of images, stories and videos to draw from in their archives.
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Revenue & Resilience
Beehiiv courts larger ad buys with boost to newsletter ad network (Variety)
The creator platform Beehiiv is hiring more staff to pitch advertisers on its network of publications, writes Brian Steinberg. The platform supports newsletters with subscriber bases ranging from 1,000 to more than a million, and creators don’t have to accept Beehiiv’s ads, the company’s co-founder, Tyler Denk, told Steinberg.
- Related: The year the newsletter business reached a fever pitch (The Wall Street Journal)
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What else you need to know
🤖 How news audiences feel about AI use by newsrooms: What a new LMA–Trusting News survey reveals (Local Media Association)
🗞️ Three stories I’d like to see in 2026 (Dick Tofel’s Second Rough Draft)
🤝 LancasterOnline becomes nonprofit newsroom with official transfer to Always Lancaster (LNP)
🗽Mamdani hosts influencer summit, sidestepping traditional media (The New York Times)
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Weekend reads
+ What a viral YouTube video says about the future of journalism (The New Yorker)
+ Listen: Why you should never marry a journalist — and other lessons from decades in media (CJR’s The Kicker podcast)
+ ‘Everything I knew burned down around me’: A journalist looks back on LA’s fires (NPR)
+ Hoffmann’s takeover of Post-Dispatch parent co. means change — but how much? (St. Louis Magazine)
