Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Encyclopedia
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper
serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, in the United States
. Although founded in 1889, it existed only in suburban Westmoreland County
until 1992 when, as an offshoot of the Greensburg Tribune-Review, it started serving all of Pittsburgh after a strike at the two previously dominant Pittsburgh dailies, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
and Pittsburgh Press
, deprived the city of a newspaper for several months.
The Tribune-Review Publishing Company is owned by Richard Mellon Scaife
, an heir to the Mellon
banking, oil, and aluminum fortune. Scaife is a major funder of conservative organizations, including the Arkansas Project
; accordingly, the Tribune-Review has long maintained a staunchly conservative editorial stance. The company publishes seven daily papers, one afternoon paper, 10 weekly papers, the Pittsburgh Pennysaver, five magazines, and a plethora of Websites.
The Trib has a conservative editorial page, contrasting with its competitor, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has more of a liberal viewpoint.
is one such satellite. Local journalism student John Filo
worked for the publication while attending nearby Kent State University
and served as the Valley Daily News' correspondent of the Kent State shootings
. His photography that day has ascended to iconic status and won the paper its only Pulitzer Prize
.
, the Leader Times of Kittanning
and The Valley Independent of Monessen
from Thomson Newspapers.
In late 1997, Scaife's NewsWorks facility opened in the North Hills
. In December 1997, the Tribune-Review company purchased the North Hills News Record, even though four months earlier, then-Trib president Ed Harrell told the Pittsburgh Business Times that the company was not interested in the News Record. Nine months after purchasing the North Hills News Record from Gannett Company
, Tribune-Review Publishing Co. announced the paper would be merged with the Pittsburgh Trib. The News Record was most successful during the newspaper strike of the early 1990s. At its demise, the North Hills News Record had a daily circulation of more than 16,000, nearly 1,000 less than its circulation before the Trib bought it. In early 2000, the Trib announced the "News Record" name would retire after more than two years of a combined "Tribune-Review/North Hills News Record" banner. North Hills coverage would be wrapped into the Trib's neighborhoods section.
-based paper, Standard Observer. Citing a "sagging economy," the Trib laid off more than four percent of its workforce in 2003, including freelance writers. More shakeups continued in 2005 as circulation numbers dropped and a top official left. An online message board featured back and forth fights between Pittsburgh and Greensburg employees.
Edward Harrell, then-president of the Tribune Review Publishing Company, announced in January 2005 that most of the regional editions of the paper would have their newsroom, management and circulation departments merged and staff reductions would follow. The merged papers include the Tribune-Review of Greensburg, the Valley News Dispatch of Tarentum
, The Leader-Times of Kittanning
, The Daily Courier of Connellsville and the Blairsville Dispatch. The Valley Independent, the only paper with a unionized newsroom and contract, was not affected.
The company incorporated as Trib Total Media in the summer of 2005, and purchased Gateway Newspapers, a community publication group servicing approximately 22 communities, at the time, in and around Pittsburgh's Allegheny County. Two managers were immediately laid off. The exact number of proposed redundancies was not announced. In September 2005, Harrell announced his retirement as president of Tribune-Review Publishing Company, effective December 31, 2005. He had served as president since 1989. Several staff writers were laid off in December 2005 as two of Gateway's newspapers were discontinued.
In May 2008, the Post-Gazette and the Trib reached a deal for one company to deliver both papers. The Post-Gazette would begin delivering the Trib to most of the area with some exceptions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. On June 20, 2008, Trib Total Media publicly announced it was closing seven weekly newspapers in the Gateway Newspapers chain. The papers affected include: Bridgeville Area News, North Journal, McKnight Journal, Woodland Progress, Penn Hills Progress, Coraopolis-Moon Record and the Advance Leader. Many of those papers were several decades old. The company also announced major changes to the remaining Gateway publications including a revamp of the Pennysaver in the communities that have Gateway newspapers. Several published reports say the remaining community newspapers would expand coverage to include areas no longer serviced by Gateway publications. The communities served by those titles will now be served by other Gateway newspapers.
Alone among major dailies in Pennsylvania's two largest cities Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the Tribune—calling incumbent U.S. Senator
Arlen Specter
"the commonwealth's longest-running joke"—endorsed challenger Joe Sestak in the 2010 Democratic
primary
; in the same editorial, the Trib urged Republicans
in their primary to do "what they should have done in 2004—make Pat Toomey
Pennsylvania's Republican nominee to the U.S. Senate."
, an investigative reporter for the newspaper, conducted a probe with the CBS
news magazine 60 Minutes
that highlighted the lack of security at the nation's most dangerous chemical plants following the September 11, 2001 attacks
.
The reporters, and a CBS camera operator, were charged with trespassing at a Neville Island plant during their investigation. They were later acquitted when the judge accepted that the story had been in the public interest.
In 2007, Prine's further investigation into the subject was featured in the PBS documentary series Exposé: America's Investigative Reports
, in a two-part episode entitled "Think Like A Terrorist."
One Tribune-Review flap went national when Colin McNickle, editor of the newspaper's editorial page, attended a July 26, 2004 speech at the Massachusetts
State House given by Teresa Heinz Kerry
, who had been the subject of two negative articles in the Tribune-Review's opinion pages. After the speech, there was a dispute between McNickle and Heinz Kerry over her use of the term "un-American activity."
In 2007, the Trib reported significant circulation gains only because of combined numbers.
A year earlier, the company saw a loss in circulation numbers at various papers.
In 2005, a report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations determined that the Post-Gazette had lost 5,000 subscribers on its Monday-to-Friday deliveries, while the Greensburg Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review lost 8,000 subscribers Monday to Friday, with deeper losses on Sundays.
Although the circulation slumps are part of a nationwide trend in the U.S., both the Tribune-Review and Post-Gazette lost readers at a greater rate than the national average of 1.6 percent for dailies with more than 100,000 subscribers.
As part of the Trib Total Media conglomerate, the Tribune-Review has partnerships with ABC
affiliate WTAE-TV
(owned by the Hearst Corporation
) and Clear Channel's
Pittsburgh area properties, in particular classic rock
station WDVE
and talk radio
station WPGB
.
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Although founded in 1889, it existed only in suburban Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile...
until 1992 when, as an offshoot of the Greensburg Tribune-Review, it started serving all of Pittsburgh after a strike at the two previously dominant Pittsburgh dailies, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...
and Pittsburgh Press
Pittsburgh Press
The Pittsburgh Press is an online newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, currently owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Historically, it was a major afternoon paper...
, deprived the city of a newspaper for several months.
The Tribune-Review Publishing Company is owned by Richard Mellon Scaife
Richard Mellon Scaife
Richard Mellon Scaife is an American newspaper publisher and billionaire. Scaife owns and publishes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. With $1.2 billion, Scaife, a principal heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, is No...
, an heir to the Mellon
Andrew W. Mellon
Andrew William Mellon was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932.-Early life:...
banking, oil, and aluminum fortune. Scaife is a major funder of conservative organizations, including the Arkansas Project
Arkansas Project
The Arkansas Project was a series of investigations that were initiated with the intent of damaging and ending the presidency of Bill Clinton...
; accordingly, the Tribune-Review has long maintained a staunchly conservative editorial stance. The company publishes seven daily papers, one afternoon paper, 10 weekly papers, the Pittsburgh Pennysaver, five magazines, and a plethora of Websites.
The Trib has a conservative editorial page, contrasting with its competitor, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has more of a liberal viewpoint.
Origin
The paper first began reporting under the name Greensburg Daily Tribune in 1889. In 1902, the Greensburg Morning Review also was published before combining the editions in 1955. Scaife bought the Greensburg Tribune-Review in 1970. Scaife was a decade early in trying to unarm the Post-Gazette. In 1981–82, he started a short-lived eastern suburbs paper, The Daily-Sunday Tribune.Kent State and the Pulitzer
The Tribune-Review owns several "satellite" papers that insert or surround the regional publication with neighborhood specific stories. The Valley Daily News and Daily Dispatch, of Pittsburgh suburbs Tarentum and New Kensington, PennsylvaniaNew Kensington, Pennsylvania
New Kensington is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania situated along the Allegheny River northeast of Pittsburgh. The population was 14,701 at the 2000 Census. The mayor of New Kensington is Tom Guzzo , elected in 2009. He succeeded Mayor Frank E. Link , elected in 2001.-History:New...
is one such satellite. Local journalism student John Filo
John Filo
John Paul Filo took the 1970 Pulitzer Prize winning photo of a 14-year-old runaway girl , crying while kneeling over the body of 20-year-old Jeffrey Miller, one of the victims of the Kent State shootings...
worked for the publication while attending nearby Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
and served as the Valley Daily News' correspondent of the Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
. His photography that day has ascended to iconic status and won the paper its only Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
.
1990s expansion, and North Hills News Record
During a newspaper strike that temporarily ceased the Post-Gazette and ultimately closed the Pittsburgh Press, Scaife launched the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, an edition of the Greensburg-based Tribune-Review covering Allegheny County and Pittsburgh. In 1997, Scaife added to his small collection of newspapers by purchasing The Daily Courier of ConnellsvilleConnellsville, Pennsylvania
Connellsville is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA, 57 miles southeast of Pittsburgh on the Youghiogheny River, a tributary of the Monongahela River. It is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. In 1890, 5,629 people lived in Connellsville, which was a borough at that time...
, the Leader Times of Kittanning
Kittanning, Pennsylvania
Kittanning is a borough and the county seat of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is situated northeast of Pittsburgh, along the east bank of the Allegheny River. The name means "at the great stream" in the Delaware language...
and The Valley Independent of Monessen
Monessen, Pennsylvania
Monessen is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,669 at the 2000 census. In 1940, 20,257 people lived there. In 1990 the population was 13,026. Steel-making was a prominent industry in Monessen, which was a Rust Belt borough in the "Mon Valley" of...
from Thomson Newspapers.
In late 1997, Scaife's NewsWorks facility opened in the North Hills
North Hills (Pennsylvania)
The North Hills is a term generally used to collectively describe the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The independent suburban municipalities that are always included in the North Hills are Ross Township, Borough of West View, Shaler Township, West Deer Township, Frazer Township,...
. In December 1997, the Tribune-Review company purchased the North Hills News Record, even though four months earlier, then-Trib president Ed Harrell told the Pittsburgh Business Times that the company was not interested in the News Record. Nine months after purchasing the North Hills News Record from Gannett Company
Gannett Company
Gannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
, Tribune-Review Publishing Co. announced the paper would be merged with the Pittsburgh Trib. The News Record was most successful during the newspaper strike of the early 1990s. At its demise, the North Hills News Record had a daily circulation of more than 16,000, nearly 1,000 less than its circulation before the Trib bought it. In early 2000, the Trib announced the "News Record" name would retire after more than two years of a combined "Tribune-Review/North Hills News Record" banner. North Hills coverage would be wrapped into the Trib's neighborhoods section.
2000s mergers and consolidations
In 2000, the Trib announced it would stop producing the twice-weekly IrwinIrwin, Pennsylvania
Irwin is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh. Some of the most extensive bituminous coal deposits in the State are located here. In the past, iron foundries, flour mills, car shops, facing and planing mills, electrical goods, and mirror factories provided...
-based paper, Standard Observer. Citing a "sagging economy," the Trib laid off more than four percent of its workforce in 2003, including freelance writers. More shakeups continued in 2005 as circulation numbers dropped and a top official left. An online message board featured back and forth fights between Pittsburgh and Greensburg employees.
Edward Harrell, then-president of the Tribune Review Publishing Company, announced in January 2005 that most of the regional editions of the paper would have their newsroom, management and circulation departments merged and staff reductions would follow. The merged papers include the Tribune-Review of Greensburg, the Valley News Dispatch of Tarentum
Tarentum, Pennsylvania
Tarentum is a borough in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is northeast of Downtown Pittsburgh, along the Allegheny River. Tarentum was an industrial center where plate glass and bottles were manufactured; bricks, lumber, steel and iron novelties, steel billets and sheets,...
, The Leader-Times of Kittanning
Kittanning, Pennsylvania
Kittanning is a borough and the county seat of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is situated northeast of Pittsburgh, along the east bank of the Allegheny River. The name means "at the great stream" in the Delaware language...
, The Daily Courier of Connellsville and the Blairsville Dispatch. The Valley Independent, the only paper with a unionized newsroom and contract, was not affected.
The company incorporated as Trib Total Media in the summer of 2005, and purchased Gateway Newspapers, a community publication group servicing approximately 22 communities, at the time, in and around Pittsburgh's Allegheny County. Two managers were immediately laid off. The exact number of proposed redundancies was not announced. In September 2005, Harrell announced his retirement as president of Tribune-Review Publishing Company, effective December 31, 2005. He had served as president since 1989. Several staff writers were laid off in December 2005 as two of Gateway's newspapers were discontinued.
In May 2008, the Post-Gazette and the Trib reached a deal for one company to deliver both papers. The Post-Gazette would begin delivering the Trib to most of the area with some exceptions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. On June 20, 2008, Trib Total Media publicly announced it was closing seven weekly newspapers in the Gateway Newspapers chain. The papers affected include: Bridgeville Area News, North Journal, McKnight Journal, Woodland Progress, Penn Hills Progress, Coraopolis-Moon Record and the Advance Leader. Many of those papers were several decades old. The company also announced major changes to the remaining Gateway publications including a revamp of the Pennysaver in the communities that have Gateway newspapers. Several published reports say the remaining community newspapers would expand coverage to include areas no longer serviced by Gateway publications. The communities served by those titles will now be served by other Gateway newspapers.
Alone among major dailies in Pennsylvania's two largest cities Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the Tribune—calling incumbent U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
"the commonwealth's longest-running joke"—endorsed challenger Joe Sestak in the 2010 Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
; in the same editorial, the Trib urged Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in their primary to do "what they should have done in 2004—make Pat Toomey
Pat Toomey
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Toomey, Sr. is the junior United States Senator for Pennsylvania and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Toomey served as a U.S. Representative for three terms, but did not seek a fourth in compliance with a pledge he had made while running for office in 1998...
Pennsylvania's Republican nominee to the U.S. Senate."
Investigations, national attention
Carl PrineCarl Prine
Carl Prine is a military investigative reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, who has been involved in a number of investigations into the security of various US facilities...
, an investigative reporter for the newspaper, conducted a probe with the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
news magazine 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
that highlighted the lack of security at the nation's most dangerous chemical plants following the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
.
The reporters, and a CBS camera operator, were charged with trespassing at a Neville Island plant during their investigation. They were later acquitted when the judge accepted that the story had been in the public interest.
In 2007, Prine's further investigation into the subject was featured in the PBS documentary series Exposé: America's Investigative Reports
EXPOSÉ: America's Investigative Reports
Exposé: America's Investigative Reports is a half-hour PBS documentary series that details some of the most revealing investigative journalism in America. Tentatively titled Airtime during development, Thirteen/WNET and the Center for Investigative Reporting launched AIR: America's Investigative...
, in a two-part episode entitled "Think Like A Terrorist."
One Tribune-Review flap went national when Colin McNickle, editor of the newspaper's editorial page, attended a July 26, 2004 speech at the Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
State House given by Teresa Heinz Kerry
Teresa Heinz Kerry
Maria Teresa Thierstein Simões-Ferreira Heinz , known as Teresa Heinz, is an American businesswoman and philanthropist, the widow of former U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III , and the wife of U.S...
, who had been the subject of two negative articles in the Tribune-Review's opinion pages. After the speech, there was a dispute between McNickle and Heinz Kerry over her use of the term "un-American activity."
Circulation
Individual circulation numbers for each daily newspaper the Trib owns are not available since company policy mandates the seven dailies combine numbers. Even still, Trib circulation continues to follow the national trend of declining numbers.In 2007, the Trib reported significant circulation gains only because of combined numbers.
A year earlier, the company saw a loss in circulation numbers at various papers.
In 2005, a report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations determined that the Post-Gazette had lost 5,000 subscribers on its Monday-to-Friday deliveries, while the Greensburg Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review lost 8,000 subscribers Monday to Friday, with deeper losses on Sundays.
Although the circulation slumps are part of a nationwide trend in the U.S., both the Tribune-Review and Post-Gazette lost readers at a greater rate than the national average of 1.6 percent for dailies with more than 100,000 subscribers.
As part of the Trib Total Media conglomerate, the Tribune-Review has partnerships with ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV
WTAE-TV is the ABC affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh, broadcasting on UHF channel 51 and identifying via PSIP as channel 4 . It also serves as an ABC affiliate for the Wheeling/Steubenville and Clarksburg/Weston, West Virginia market areas...
(owned by the Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
) and Clear Channel's
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
Pittsburgh area properties, in particular classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
station WDVE
WDVE
WDVE is a mainstream rock music formatted radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA at 102.5 MHz. It is often referred to by Pittsburghers as simply "DVE." WDVE's transmitter is located on Pittsburgh's North Side...
and talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
station WPGB
WPGB
WPGB is a conservative talk radio station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz with an ERP of 13 kW...
.
External links
- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review web site (mobile)
- "Cable news networks obsess over Teresa Heinz Kerry comment; downplay Tribune-Review's right-wing history", Media Matters for America
- "Shakeup at the Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 20, 2005
- "Who is Richard Mellon Scaife?" by Brooks Jackson, CNN, April 27, 1998
- "Trials and Trib-ulations: An insider's look at Pittsburgh's second daily", Pittsburgh City PaperPittsburgh City PaperThe Pittsburgh City Paper is Pittsburgh's leading alternative weekly newspaper which focuses on local news, opinion, and arts and entertainment...
, September 1, 2005