Shake-up leaves Tribune-Review staff wondering

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Wednesday, January 19, 2005 | Dennis B. Roddy

[Willie Green]

A management shake-up at the Tribune-Review of Greensburg, flagship newspaper in a chain of dailies overseen by conservative philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife, has staff members both in Westmoreland County and at the company's Pittsburgh edition uncertain about their futures.

Last week, after top management repaired to a midweek strategic planning session at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, the circulation director for the Greensburg edition, Lou Ottey, was dismissed.

Yesterday, staff in Greensburg learned that Tom Stewart, longtime editor and one of the paper's mainstays for 30 years, was leaving the paper as well.... (Greensburg Trib editor leaving)

~~~SNIP~~~

In recent weeks, tensions between the two staffs have boiled over into public venues. An online message board, Pittsburgh Media Scoops and Gossip, recently carried a series of occasionally vitriolic and taunting messages purporting to be between Pittsburgh and Greensburg staff members.

[Willie Green]

Heads are rolling at the Trib.

[Willie Green]

ping

[VRWCmember]

Outsourcing?

[zook]

Didn't they have a lefty or two writing for them?

[VRWCmember]

Will they be able to blame the shakeup on Bush's policies?

[Willie Green]

Sounds more like downsizing.
I noticed last week that some of the local weekly papers that had been associated with the Trib had been spun off to their own website. The Herald was one of 'em. Looks like they've been sold to some outfit called "Gateway Newspapers".

[Ditto]

From The Toledo Post Gazette?

[Ditto]

From The Toledo Post Gazette?

[Willie Green]

Yeah, no doubt the Block Family is gloating over this.

[Ditto]

It won't help their circulation any. What they lost with their scam with Scripts Howard, the Teamsters and the local Rats to turn Pittsburgh into a one paper town, they will never recover. Never. I subscribed to the Trib then and never looked back.

[martin_fierro]

Geez, ANYTHING but back to being a one-paper town again!

	It's a 'Burgh Thing.™
Send FReepmail if yunz want on/off BPT list, 'n'at
Learn Pittsburghese!

[Old Professer]

Newspapers have lost their way as the constraints of publishing and distributing leave them hours and sometimes days behind; gossip, fashion and politics mixed in amongst the abundance of ads are their mainstay now, who cares the editor?

[sandalwood]

Gateway is the king of the local newspapers - Plum, Murrysville, Penn-Trafford, Norwin - all the local papers are Gateway.

I do hope the TR just quits trying to compete for Pittsburgh's circulation and focuses on what they do best - everything EXCEPT Downtown.

I have been getting the Post-Gazette for free for about two years now, and there are still times I want to call and cancel!!

[sandalwood]

Of course, the PG will spin this thing as the very downfall of the Tribune-Review.

I hope they are wrong. With Westmoreland becoming more conservative every day, we will truly be left without any representation in the media.

[Willie Green]

Gateway is the king of the local newspapers - Plum, Murrysville, Penn-Trafford, Norwin - all the local papers are Gateway.

Well I certainly like the website they've developed for The Herald. It's too early to tell for sure, but it looks like they're going to provide more online content than what they had at the Trib. (I follow the Herald because it covers the community I grew-up in.)

[Ciexyz]

I've been dissatisfied for some time, at least the past six months, over the tone of some of the articles in the Trib. It's like they were parroting the MSM agenda instead of providing balanced reporting, in their comments against the Iraq war, Abu Ghraib, some other issues. The editorial page was still strongly conservative, but not the regular reporting.

Therefore, I reduced my purchase of the trib, dropping it down to maybe twice a week. I usually buy the Sunday issue, but not always.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Tribune7]

ping

[mountaineer]

Interesting. As some may know, I write for the Wheeling newspapers. We've had a couple of writers migrate to the TR and higher wages, and at least one came back - there's something about that paper that makes working for it unpleasant.

[infidel29]

Bring back the "Press". I can't stand either the Trib or the Putz-Gazette.