Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Replaces Executive Editor

PITTSBURGH, PA — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has replaced one controversial executive editor with another. The newspaper announced over the weekend that Stan Wischnowski, who led The Philadelphia Inquirer for a decade, will begin his new duties on Sept. 14.

Wischnowski replaces Keith Burris,who drew national attention for pulling two black journalists from covering demonstrations related to the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died while being taken into custody by four police officers in Minneapolis. The officers are facing murder and other charges.

Burris, the newspaper's editor since February 2019, will return to his previous role as editorial director of Block Communications, the Post-Gazette's parent company that also owns The Blad of Toledo, Ohio.

Wischnowski spent two decades at the Inquirier, leading the merger of that paper with the Philadelphia Daily News and the philly.com website. Under his leadership, the Inquirer won a 2012 Pulitzer for public service for an in-depth investigation of violence in Philadelphia's public schools.

He resigned in June after the paper published the headline, "Buildings Matter, Too," on a column about vandalism and looting after Floyd's death and the subsequent Black Lives Matter movement.