Anything was better than no news, a state of affairs the city had endured for eight months after Teamsters delivery drivers went on strike against the Press in one of the longest newspaper walkouts in decades. (The strike idled both dailies because the Press printed and delivered the Post-Gazette.) The long absence of newspapers had some bizarre effects. Without obituaries, for instance, local florists lost 30 percent of their business.
High-school English teacher Pamela Johnson was emotional when she got a local paper back into her hands: “Gosh, it’s good to have my fingers all smeared with ink again.” But the Post-Gazette will have to win back advertisers who fled to other media and even direct mail. Suburban publisher Richard M. Scaife expanded into the city with the Tribune-Review during the strike and intends to stay. Pittsburgh may be a two-newspaper town yet.
