The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review will stop printing hard copies and become a digital-only publication, costing 106 employees their jobs, the paper announced on Wednesday.
Trib Total Media president and CEO Jennifer Bertetto informed employees that the last print edition would be published Nov. 30. Bertetto explained that the goal is to bolster the free, digital edition in order to ensure a sustainable future.
The newspaper industry continues to struggle, with many big-name papers having taken drastic measures to improve their digital presence in recent years. As part of the plan, 106 full- and part-time PTR employees will face layoffs in addition to the 95 employees who took voluntary buyouts from the company earlier this month.
“We did everything possible to avoid this course of action,” Bertetto said. “This was an incredibly tough decision.”
Once layoffs are complete, the company will have 455 employees, 388 of them being full-time staff.
“We had hoped that the moves we made last fall would be enough to stabilize our financial position, but it simply wasn’t enough,” Bertetto said. “Like other news organizations, our company faces an intense financial reality that compelled us to make additional changes. These changes, although difficult, are necessary to ensure our long-term viability. I am incredibly confident in the direction our organization is heading.”
Senior editors Luis Fabregas, Jeremy Boren and Rob Amen will lead the digital publication.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has Sunday distribution of 107,088 and 267,936 daily readers, according to the paper’s website.