Hospitals ban newspaper in gift shops after coverage

Some UPMC hospitals are banning the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from sale in their gift shops, a move UPMC spokesman Paul Wood said was precipitated by “fairness issues” in the newspaper’s coverage of the health system.

Steve Twedt of the Post-Gazette writes, “UPMC officials did not respond Tuesday to questions asking which specific stories they found objectionable.

”’We believe that our coverage of UPMC has been fair-minded in every respect,’ said David M. Shribman, the newspaper’s 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.”

“But health system officials have often criticized stories, editorials, and editorial cartoons published in the Post-Gazette in recent years, most frequently in its coverage of the ongoing contract battle with insurer Highmark and, in years past, about the health giant’s real-estate holdings and its business practices.

“The Post-Gazette also recently published stories about UPMC’s transplant program being placed on probation over its handling of donor organs and another in which some questioned its assertion that UPMC Braddock was closed because the facility was underutilized.”

Read more here.