Overview
- The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, which runs The Baltimore Banner, announced Tuesday it will buy the Post-Gazette’s assets effective May 4, preventing the planned May 3 shutdown.
- Under nonprofit ownership, the paper will keep Thursday and Sunday print editions, keep its newsroom and local leaders in Pittsburgh, and fold technology, product and business operations into the institute.
- Financial terms were not disclosed, and founder Stewart W. Bainum Jr. has committed an additional $30 million over five years to support the effort.
- Union leaders said the sale does not erase court-ordered liabilities from the nearly three-year strike, urging the new owner to address back pay and uphold workers’ rights.
- Venetoulis leaders said the current business model cannot support the paper’s roughly 100-person newsroom, leaving staffing levels to be reassessed even as publication continues.