Dive Brief:
- Several UPMC hospitals are refusing to sell the Post-Gazette in their gift shops, citing "fairness issues" in coverage of the health system.
- UPMC has canceled advertising in the newspaper twice over the past few years due to dissatisfaction in how it was covered and portrayed in editorials and editorial cartoons.
- Some of the criticized articles included coverage of the ongoing contract battle with Highmark and UPMC's real-estate holdings and business practices. Other recent articles focused on UPMC's transplant program, which is on probation due to its handling of donor organs, and why UPMC's Braddock campus was closed.
Dive Insight:
"The Post-Gazette is edited without regard to any special interest, and our news columns are not for sale, at any price," said publisher John Robinson Block. The paper says that UPMC did not respond to questions from the newspaper asking which stories were objectionable.
"We believe our coverage of UPMC has been fair-minded in every respect," said David M. Shribman, executive editor. "Every entity in every town feels aggrieved at some point by what a good newspaper writes. It's part of living in a free society where the exchange of news and information is prized, not punished."