Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Infobox Newspaper
name = Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


caption = The July 27, 2005 front page of the
"Pittsburgh Tribune-Review"
type = Daily newspaper
format = Broadsheet
foundation = 1889 (In 1992 became metro-wide)
ceased publication =
price =
owners = Tribune-Review Publishing Company
publisher = Richard Mellon Scaife
editor =
circulation = 150,253 Daily
185,331 Sunday [cite web | title=2007 Top 100 Daily Newspapers in the U.S. by Circulation |publisher=Burrelles"Luce" |url=http://www.burrellesluce.com/top100/2007_Top_100List.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2007-05-31 |date=2007-03-31]
headquarters = 503 Martindale St.
3rd Floor
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15212 United States
ISSN =
website = http://www.tribtotalmedia.com

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Although founded in 1889 [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/helpdesk/personel.html Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Help Desk - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ] ] , it existed only in 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.

With seven daily papers,, one afternoon paper, 10 weekly papers, the Pittsburgh Pennysaver, five magazines and a plethora of Web sites, Trib Total Media is owned by heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, Richard Mellon Scaife.

The Trib is generally considered to have a conservative editorial page, contrasting that of their competitor the Post-Gazette which generally has a liberal viewpoint.

History

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.

The Greensburg Tribune-Review was purchased in 1970 by heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, Richard Mellon Scaife.

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. [http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/1997/08/25/story4.html War of words - Pittsburgh Business Times: ] ]

During a newspaper strike that temporarily ceased the Post-Gazette and ultimately closed the Press, Scaife expanded the Greensburg Trib, based in Westmoreland County, to include coverage of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh. He named the paper, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

In 1997, Scaife added to his small collection of newspapers by purchasing The Daily Courier of Connellsville, the Leader Times of Kittanning and The Valley Independent of Monessen from Thomson Newspapers. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/19981020thompson3.asp Thomson to sell New Castle News ] ]

In the fall of 1997, Scaife's NewsWorks facility opened in the North Hills. [http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/1997/09/22/story2.html North Hills News Record apparently on the block - Pittsburgh Business Times: ] ]

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. [http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/19980911tribune4.asp Tribune plans to merge papers ] ] [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/1998/11/02/story2.html Trib pushes North Hills daily inside - Pittsburgh Business Times: ] ]

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. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000212biz3.asp Business Briefs, 2/11/2000 ] ]

Also in 2000, the Trib announced it would stop producing the twice-weekly Irwin-based paper, Standard Observer. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20000129paper4.asp Irwin newspaper to be absorbed ] ]

Citing a "sagging economy," the Trib laid off more than four percent of its workforce in 2003, including freelance writers. [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03310/238997-59.stm Westmoreland Briefs, 11/06/03 ] ]

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 [ [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_295006.html Tribune-Review to reorganize papers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ] ] .

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 [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05020/445110.stm Shakeup at the Tribune-Review; layoffs expected at all newspapers ] ] .

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 [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001096806] . Several staff writers were laid off in December 2005 as two of Gateway's newspapers were discontinued.

In May 2008, the PG 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. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08150/885664-28.stm Post-Gazette reaches deal to distribute Trib ] ]

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 are several decades old. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08172/891490-100.stm Tribune-Review closing 7 weekly papers ] ]

The company also announced major changes to the remaining Gateway publications including a revamp of the Pennysaver in the communities that have Gateway newspapers. [ [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_573665.html Trib to cease publication of 7 weekly newspapers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ] ]

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. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/06/23/story5.html Communities notified that seven Pittsburgh-area weekly newspapers will close - Pittsburgh Business Times: ] ]

Investigations, national attention

Carl Prine, 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 [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/13/60minutes/main583528.shtml U.S. Plants: Open To Terrorists, 60 Minutes Finds Lax Security At Many U.S. Chem Facilities - CBS News ] ] .

The reporters, and a CBS camera operator, were charged with trespassing at a Neville Island plant during their investigation [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_west/2031002trespasswest4p4.asp Journalists cited for trespassing at Neville Island chemical plant ] ] They were later acquitted when the judge accepted that the story had been in the public interest [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/pages/pdf/gtr030404.pdf#search='Carl%20Prine%20Gallo'] .

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."

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. [ [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_536467.html Trib gains circulation by combining editions - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ] ]

A year earlier, the company saw a loss in circulation numbers at various papers. [ [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06304/734254-28.stm Newspaper circulation continues to decline ] ]

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, [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000904052] while the Greensburg Tribune-Review and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review lost 8,000 subscribers Monday to Friday, with deeper losses on Sundays. [ [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000904052 null ] ]

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. [ [http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000904268 null ] ]

ee also

Arkansas Project

References

External links

* [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/?source=network+bar Pittsburgh Tribune-Review web site]
* [http://mediamatters.org/items/200407270001 "Cable news networks obsess over Teresa Heinz Kerry comment; downplay Tribune-Review's right-wing history"] , "Media Matters for America"
* [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05020/445110.stm "Shakeup at the "Tribune-Review"] , "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette", January 20, 2005
* [http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/27/scaife.profile/ "Who is Richard Mellon Scaife?"] by Brooks Jackson, CNN, April 27, 1998
* [http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A29147 "Trials and Trib-ulations: An insider's look at Pittsburgh's second daily"] , Pittsburgh City Paper, September 1, 2005
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