Alexandra Wimley had been working for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a little more than three weeks on Oct. 27, 2018. The photographer was scheduled to work that Saturday afternoon, but when her editor called around 10 a.m. with reports of shots fired at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Wimley immediately gathered her cameras and other equipment and drove there.
Wimley was one of the first photographers on the active scene, arriving before the shooter was in custody. She took the widely circulated photo of Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers fleeing the synagogue with the help of SWAT officers.
On Oct. 27, four years ago, that gunman killed 11 people and wounded six others in what is the deadliest attack on Jews in American history.
That day and the weeks that followed, journalists and other newsroom workers at the Post-Gazette worked diligently to publish thorough and thoughtful coverage of the massacre and its aftermath.
“IT’S ALL HANDS ON DECK IN A SITUATION LIKE THAT.”
Torsten Ove
Andrew Goldstein, at the time a night crime reporter, said that although he wasn’t in the newsroom in the days after the massacre because he was working in the field every day, he still was able to find comfort in his colleagues — those who were out there with him.
“Whether you were a reporter, a photographer, a sports reporter or a business reporter out there working, no matter who it was, no matter what department they were in, we all came together to not only do great work but also to support each other,” Goldstein said, reflecting on “what was a very difficult time for us and obviously for the city at large.”
Wimley also recalled having a great support system in her fellow journalists.
“I think we all did a good job of talking to each other and making sure we were OK, making sure everyone was informed,” she said. “Goldy, in particular, I would run into him on assignment and he’s a member of this community, so just to be able to talk to him and to be able to get things off our chest and whatnot, it was really great.”
Torsten Ove, who has spent most of his 25-year career covering federal courts and crime, drove back a day early from a visit to his parents in Georgia in order to help cover the case against accused gunman Robert Bowers.
“It’s all hands on deck in a situation like that,” Ove said. “Everybody had to participate in this, and it’s an example of what the Post-Gazette could do pretty well.”
“Most of the seasoned people knew exactly what to do,” he added, noting how many of the veteran journalists had covered previous mass shootings and other major crises such as 9/11.
“We all have a role to play,” he said. “We knew how to respond. That’s what we do.”
For their work, the Post-Gazette staff won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. The award was the third Pulitzer awarded to the paper, winning previously in 1998 and 1938. Judges lauded the Post-Gazette’s immersive and compassionate coverage “that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.”
For these journalists, the award wasn’t the rewarding part.
“It was about being recognized for contributing what we could, what our skills and talents could contribute during a terrible time in our city,” Goldstein said. “We felt a great deal of honor to bring that to Pittsburgh. … That was not just for us in the newsroom, but that was really for all of Pittsburgh.”
He thinks the honor highlighted the journalists’ “skill and the talent that we have even under extreme duress.”
Wimley agreed, saying she thinks “that’s the strength of the local journalists at the Post-Gazette, especially those who live in this community.”
Wimley noted many talented people who worked on the Tree of Life coverage have since left the Post-Gazette for jobs, in journalism and not, where they felt “that their talents would be more well respected [and] they would be treated more fairly.” She’s currently on strike to assure that she and her remaining colleagues are “treated fairly.”
Newsroom workers went on strike Oct. 18, joining Post-Gazette employees in mailing, printing, distribution and advertising departments who walked off the job two weeks prior after being stripped of their health insurance.
Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members joined the strike to demand a fair contract so they can get back to doing what they do.
“I want to stand up for folks who I’m in the trenches with every day telling Pittsburgh’s story … and if they’re not being treated fairly, I want no part of it,” said Goldstein, who planned to attend Thursday’s public Commemoration Ceremony on Prospect Drive in Schenley Park to honor the 11 lives lost and the people impacted by the 2018 antisemitic attack.
“The reason we were able to perform as well as we did at times like Oct. 27, or when we were covering the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse or other major stories that happen around the city on a fairly regular basis, is because we have a union that guarantees people’s rights, good pay and benefits,” he said. “Without that, we wouldn’t be able to attract the caliber of journalists that we have here for decades.”
“I want to stand up for folks who I’m in the trenches with every day telling Pittsburgh’s story”
Andrew Goldstein
Wimley noted photographers and reporters often put themselves in danger while doing their job, citing the environment in front of the Tree of Life building and inside hospital emergency rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Just to be shown the respect that we deserve, it’s so little to ask for when they’re throwing so much money into attorneys to fight us when we just want a fair contract,” she said.
Four years after the massacre, Ove continues to cover the accused gunman’s federal death penalty case as it moves through U.S. District Court. Ove said he believes he and his colleagues have proven themselves over time, have good reputations in the community and should be compensated for their experience, perspective and skills, all of which the newsroom workers want to exercise to inform the community.
“Nobody’s looking to get rich,” Ove said. “Nobody goes into journalism with that intent, but you need a living wage, you need to pay your bills, and you need to feel respected by your employer, and we do not, and we have not been for many years. I think a strike like this is getting the community’s attention, and I hope that will continue.”
Hannah is a reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike. Email her hwyman@unionprogress.com.
