The Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting is an effort steered by union journalists from the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and members of Pittsburgh’s most civically engaged communities.

Photos by Alexandra Wimley

PAPER was formed in January 2026, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the then-owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, their final attempt to throw out the collective bargaining agreement our union fought so hard to defend. On January 7, the Block family chose to punish their dedicated union employees (and everyone else) by announcing the impending closure of Pittsburgh’s 240-year-old newspaper of record.

The Pulitzer-winning journalists who spent more than three years on strike had been back at our jobs and earning paychecks again for less than two months.

By May 1, 2026, we had endured months of a hostage situation orchestrated by the Post-Gazette’s management and the owners of The Baltimore Banner. That day, 80% of us who had been on strike — including me — were told by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism that we were not welcome back at the jobs some of us had worked for decades, while 80% of people who had crossed our picket line were allowed to keep their positions. Since then, PAPER has continued to build momentum and support for an independent news outlet.

PAPER has raised tens of thousands of dollars since January for town hall events, business planning, and other necessities to build a cooperatively owned news publication for Pittsburgh. Our goal is to build a worker-led newsroom that offers a tangible stake in Pittsburgh media for our working class neighbors.