Last Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to be printed in November

PITTSBURGH — It's the end of an era in Pittsburgh.

Trib Total Media announced Wednesday that it will no longer publish the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper, with the final print edition to be published Nov. 30.

President and CEO Jennifer Bertetto said the company will still deliver news from Allegheny County on its website, TribLIVE.

"We're just using a different platform to deliver the news," Bertetto told TribLIVE. "Our goal is to meet the demands of readers who want to access breaking news through mobile technology."

The Trib has printed the Pittsburgh edition for the last 24 years. As part of the decision to go all-digital, 106 full-and part-time employees will be laid off, and 95 employees recently accepted buyouts. While the company will retain its offices in Pittsburgh and throughout Allegheny County, it will also shut down printing at its Newsworks plant in Warrendale.

"Like other news organizations, our company faces an intense financial reality that compelled us to make additional changes.  These changes, although difficult, are necessary to ensure our long term viability, Bertetto said in a statement.

The Trib has struggled financially after the 2014 death of billionaire publisher Richard Scaife, who launched the Pittsburgh edition after the newspaper strike in 1992 left the city without a newspaper for several months.

Former Trib reporter Andrew Conte said, "It's shocking. It's upsetting anytime you see your friends lose their jobs."

Conte worked as an investigative reporter for 15 years at the Trib. He still writes a column, but now runs the Point Park University Center for Media Innovation.

"The economics of printed newspapers are difficult. That's why you see across the country, in terms of other cities where newspapers have shut down or gone to publishing three days a week instead of every day. It's just difficult to come up with enough ad revenue to offset the costs of printing and delivering newspapers especially when advertisers are going online," Conte said.

The Trib will retain 11 of its 14 other weekly newspaper publications and will continue to print and deliver newspapers in both Greensburg and Tarentum. Bertetto said the company will increase resources devoted to the Westmoreland and Valley News Dispatch editions of the Tribune-Review.

Cox Media Group