Pittsburgh paper accused of barring black reporters from covering protests, censoring stories

By Miriam Berger
6/6/2020, 8:26:30 p.m.

Photojournalist Michael Santiago was part of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette team that in 2019 won the paper a Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s highest accolade, for its breaking news coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre. The Pulitzer judges praised the staff’s reporting as “immersive, compassionate coverage … that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.”

Only now, Santiago says the paper has barred him and at least one other reporter from covering anti-racism protests in Pittsburgh because they are seen as biased for being black. Journalists are also accusing the newspaper of removing and censoring at least two articles published online Friday that reported on protests over George Floyd’s death and police abuses, as well as of penalizing reporters who supported their black colleagues.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “has chosen to silence two of it most prominent Black journalist during one of the most important civil rights stories that is happening across our country!” Santiago tweeted Saturday. He referred The Washington Post to the head of Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh for comment.

Link to tweet

With the country gripped by an anti-racism uprising, what’s been unfolding inside the Pittsburgh newspaper has underscored one of the fundamental challenges American media faces with its coverage: a lack of diverse voices, including of black journalists, in newsrooms. It has also laid bare the challenges of trying to change that.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editors did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

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