Pittsburgh is the first to eliminate its daily birdcage liner

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the largest American city to be the first to no longer have a daily print newspaper, but they still have the Steelers, and if the NFL continues taking a knee, that too may be a thing of the past.

The Post-Gazette informed its reader [or two] that it will cut its production schedule from seven days a week to five, beginning this weekend, losing its daily status.

The Post-Gazette was launched 232 years ago, making it one of the oldest newspapers in the country. The paper first indicated in June the cutback would be eventually taking place but noted the digital edition will continue.

"It's the year 2018," they uncovered, "and with the way people review and expect to review information and news, we think we're doing the right thing," said Keith Wilkowski, vice president of legal and government affairs for Block Communications Inc., owner of the paper and located in Toledo, Ohio.

"We will be publishing a [digital] newspaper seven days a week," Wilkowski said, "and, frankly, we reach more people via online than through the print publication."

Of course, the union that represents 150 Post-Gazette employees, The Guild of Pittsburgh, immediately slammed the paper in a tweet, calling the cutback "an insane, misguided plan" and "the beginning of the end." They obviously don't understand math.

A Pew Research Center analysis found in July that more than half of the largest newspaper in the U.S. have laid off employees since January 2017. Specifically, nine out of 16 newspapers nationwide with circulations of at least 250,000, or 56 percent, experienced layoffs during a 16-month period ending in April.

Print newspapers are struggling to stay afloat in a digital ocean of online print. It comes as no surprise they are slowly dying. But also part of the problem is the erosion of trust the public has developed, thanks, in part, to the rise in Trump and the obviously hate-filled biased news that is perfuse with opinion, omission, exaggeration and fake news than it is with real journalism.

Which is a good reason why you ought to consider reading this blog and others.


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