Pittsburgh Newspaper to Be Sold to Its Rival

NEW YORK — Calling it “the best possible outcome for the city of Pittsburgh,” E.W. Scripps Co. announced Thursday that it has agreed to sell the strike-bound Pittsburgh Press to the rival Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Both papers have been shut down by a strike by delivery truck drivers, which has left Pittsburgh, population 369,879, without a major hometown daily since May 17.

The drivers, represented by the Teamsters Union, struck over plans for a streamlined distribution system that originally called for a 75% reduction in their 605 jobs.

Scripps, a Cincinnati-based media firm that owns 21 daily newspapers across the country, put the Press up for sale Oct. 2, citing mounting financial losses from the strike. The company said its third-quarter earnings fell 47%.

The Post-Gazette is owned by Blade Communications, which is based in Toledo, Ohio, and owns 15 media properties, including the Blade of Toledo and the Herald of Monterey, Calif.

Terms of the tentative deal were not revealed, and questions remained about whether the Post-Gazette, a morning paper, would continue publishing the Press as a separate afternoon paper.

Before the strike, the longest in Pittsburgh’s newspaper history, the Press had a daily circulation of 209,000 and a Sunday circulation of 556,000. The Post-Gazette had a daily circulation of 154,000.

The sale is largely contingent upon the Post-Gazette’s success in negotiating new contracts with the Press’ 10 unions. Talks are scheduled to begin today.

If the Post-Gazette is unable to come to terms with the unions by Nov. 30, the sale will be called off and the Press closed.

Joe Molinero, president of Teamsters Local 211, which represents the striking drivers, said that he was confident a new contract could be reached with the Post-Gazette by next month’s deadline.