{"id":1242,"date":"2026-01-30T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/01\/30\/2026-01-30-journalism-in-precarious-state\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:11:07","slug":"2026-01-30-journalism-in-precarious-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/01\/30\/2026-01-30-journalism-in-precarious-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism in precarious\u00a0state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Matthew Purucker<\/a> · News Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Jan. 7 statement that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plans to close May 3 was sad news for Post-Gazette employees, but it was far from surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Block Communications Inc., owner of the Post-Gazette, lost over $350 million in 20 years financing the newspaper. And because of recent court decisions, the company would have to spend more money per year, likely increasing this deficit, to keep the newspaper in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this day, the drama surrounding the newspaper\u2019s current state remains intense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forty-nine Post-Gazette bargaining unit employees (among those who did not go on strike) announced on X (@savepghnews) that \u201cthe majority of the editorial staff\u201d is \u201cseeking new elections for leadership within the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jan. 22 post criticized the union for not reflecting the values of Post-Gazette employees. Striking union members also ran a rival news outlet (Pittsburgh Union Progress) for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many factors contributed to the precarious state of the newspaper, it is unwise for a 20-year-old scholarship recipient from Trib Total Media (TribLive), the main competitor to the Post-Gazette, to engage in finger-pointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Post-Gazette\u2019s potential closure reflects a broader national trend. According to Northwestern University\u2019s Medill School\u2019s 2025 The State of Local News report, nearly 40% of newspapers have closed since 2005, and monthly pageviews of the country\u2019s 100 largest newspapers have fallen by over 45% over the last four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if the Post-Gazette, one of the country\u2019s longest-running newspapers, folds, it would probably be the biggest sign to date that the future of the journalism industry, as many know it, is highly questionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, Pittsburgh would still have a weekly in-print newspaper if the Post-Gazette shutters. TribLive announced it would restart its Pittsburgh publication on May 9, but that solution is only temporary. Even an investor or a group of investors to bail out the Post-Gazette would not fix the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, local, text-based, legacy news is largely unsustainable. Free content, especially from AI and social media \u201cinfluencers\u201d (or the dreadful combination), is almost certainly the primary cause, at least for younger generations. It has largely replaced local news because when there\u2019s the option to pay for something good or not pay for something decent, the decent option typically wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take it this way: students with a dining plan more often eat at Hicks Caf\u00e9 than at a restaurant. As long as it\u2019s decent, it\u2019s good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, some social media content is good. But, the vast amount of emotionally charged hate, lies and generative AI \u201cslop\u201d on social media makes many accounts of influencers or \u201cjournalists\u201d on those platforms untrustworthy or flat-out degrading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, much of that social content is over-sensationalized or argumentative to the point of attacking people for their characteristics or beliefs, not providing beneficial information. And AI-generated information can often be wrong because AI cannot think; it can only respond with information available on the internet, prioritizing speed over accuracy. The instantaneous nature of AI and social media also allows lies to spread far more quickly and widely than local news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For local journalism to survive, or even thrive, news outlets must rethink their revenue models. Instead of putting content behind a paywall or allowing non-paying users to see a limited number of articles per week for free, outlets can try a free model with ads. Instead of letting AI companies use content for free, outlets can charge AI companies fees to use their content. If not, outlets can petition governments and companies, which some have already done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers can also support local journalism by reading it. The root of this complicated-to-solve issue is that people do not believe newspapers like the Post-Gazette are valuable enough to exist because they do not financially support or pay enough attention to them. As a result, advertisements and other revenue often fail to offset costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the solution, if journalism is important for outlets and consumers to save, they must be proactive, embracing the benefits of new technologies while resisting their harm. Because if they remain inactive, or even reactive, that 40% will almost certainly turn into 100% if given enough time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Jan. 7 statement that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plans to close May 3 was sad news for Post-Gazette employees, but it was far from surprising. Block Communications Inc., owner of the Post-Gazette,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[27,42,91],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-staff-editorials","tag-editorial","tag-issue-2026-01-30","tag-matthew-purucker"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A Jan. 7 statement that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette plans to close May 3 was sad news for Post-Gazette employees, but it was far from surprising. Block Communications Inc., owner of the Post-Gazette,","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1795,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions\/1795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}