Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

On September 12, 2001, I was scheduled for an interview with a Post-Gazette reporter about a job fair I was coordinating in October.

My boss made me call the journalist to confirm the appointment. As we all surmise, they were covering a far bigger story. I knew that journalist would never talk with me again because of their palpable disbelief I was asking.

Me, too.

But I called because the day before, on 9/11/2001, I did not drive across town to pick up flyers as instructed by that same boss. I was written up for that decision to comply with the law enforcement directive to stay off the roads.

What happens when we lose access to media outlets

When really big, bad things happen with local community media, there’s a ripple effect. Such is the case with the closures of the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The City Paper ripped off the band-aid so closure was simple if not easy. It is gone, leaving us to process our feelings. But there’s no unfinished business.

With the Post-Gazette, things are murkier. The closure was announced for May 2026. That’s maybe 16 weeks of news to be reported.

Should we pitch stories? Resume our cancellations? Does it matter?

Obviously, it is a complicated and uncertain time for the PG staff who have to make a post-May plan. There are only so many local journalism jobs, so a pivot toward planning their future makes sense.

But news is still happening. The community still needs to be informed. Having boycotted the PG for three years, I am not familiar with the caliber of the news they publish.

I think the community can do two things at once – sympathize with the workers impacted by this decision and grieve our collective loss, including trying to figure out how to navigate local news now.

KDKA TV laid off staff. WESA copes with slashed federal funding. The City Paper gone. The Trib is mostly online news east of the City. Public Source has limited staff. The Pittsburgh New Courier relies on wire stories.

Where do we bring our stories, entrusting them to be treated with care and ethics?

Who investigates local government now?

Who will be on the ground when ICE ramps up their brutality in Pittsburgh?

I believe in independent journalism, but there are serious issues of capacity and resources. What does the absence of editors and producers mean?

What is the etiquette when journalism ends?

I had previously pitched a few stories to the PG. When I followed up with the journalist recently, I felt a lot like I did back in 2001 calling the reporter on September 12.

Maybe the PG has already closed to new business, to telling community stories. Perhaps the lingering months are simply about wrapping up loose ends.

Our focus could be better focused on “What’s next?” A new daily paper is possible – see the Lancaster Times nonprofit ownership structure. Pittsburgh is home to many multimillionaires who could swoop in if they partner with folx in the industry.

But most of us are not at that table. So where do we turn?

Is it okay to pitch a story? Is it insensitive? Is it defiant to bring narratives that have been ignored back to the paper even just for a few weeks?

Is it fair to the strikers to expect them to bring the Pittsburgh Union Progress might to their final months with the PG? What about the others who didn’t have the courage to strike? Or those who won’t try to organize their own media workplaces.

The PUP had been the only outlet that took me seriously. KDKA, WTAE, and WPXI literally ignore me. WESA and Public Source acknowledge me, but have perpetual staffing shortages. Next Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Magazine just dismiss me.

It’s just my blog and my social media following now.

There’s no etiquette for this situation.

No newspapers, so rule them all?

I lost that job by November 2001. After applying for unemployment, I curled up for five days reading the entire Lord of The Rings trilogy. I don’t know why.

There are no journalists in LOTR. I remember Sam reading papers, but unclear if it was a newspaper or a newssheet. Maybe scrolls? The information was shared, the prophecies exchanged, the plans hatched through communication sometimes grudgingly, but involving interpersonal interaction.

But this is not Middle Earth. There’s no magic or Elven intervention and soon no one will be able to afford second breakfast. Our world is changing as worlds tend to do and not in a good way. Orcs, eagles, even Gollum analogies make for low hanging fruit in this era. Still …

Who will tell the stories? Who will create new stories?

Who will read them?