 The November 25, 2014 front page of theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Compact (March 23, 2009) |
| Owner | Lee Enterprises |
| Founder | Joseph Pulitzer |
| Publisher | Ian Caso[1] |
| Editor | Gilbert Bailon |
| Founded | December 12, 1878; 146 years ago (December 12, 1878) |
| Headquarters | 901 North 10th Street St. Louis,Missouri 63101 |
| Circulation | 99,618 Daily 109,407 Sunday (as of 2023)[2] |
| ISSN | 1930-9600 |
| OCLC number | 1764810 |
| Website | www |
TheSt. Louis Post-Dispatch is a regional newspaper based inSt. Louis, Missouri, serving theSt. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing theBelleville News-Democrat,Alton Telegraph, andEdwardsville Intelligencer. The publication has received 19Pulitzer Prizes.[3]
The paper is owned byLee Enterprises ofDavenport, Iowa, which purchasedPulitzer, Inc. in 2005 in a cash deal valued at $1.46 billion.
On April 10, 1907,Joseph Pulitzer wrote what became known as the paper'splatform:
I know that my retirement will make no difference in its cardinal principles, that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.[4]
In 1878, Pulitzer purchased the bankruptSt. Louis Dispatch at a public auction[5] and merged it with theSt. Louis Evening Post to create theSt. Louis Post and Dispatch, whose title was soon shortened to its current form. He appointed John A. Cockerill as the managing editor. Its first edition, 4,020 copies of four pages each, appeared on December 12, 1878.
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In 1882,James Overton Broadhead ran for Congress against John Glover. TheSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, at Cockerill's direction, ran a number of articles questioning Broadhead's role in a lawsuit between a gaslight company and the city; Broadhead never responded to the charges.[6] Broadhead's friend and law partner,Alonzo W. Slayback, publicly defended Broadhead, asserting that thePost-Dispatch was nothing more than a "blackmailing sheet". The next day, October 13, 1882, Cockerill re-ran an offensive "card" by John Glover that the paper had published the prior year (November 11, 1881). Incensed, Slayback barged into Cockerill's offices at the paper demanding an apology. Cockerill shot and killed Slayback; he claimed self-defense, and a pistol was allegedly found on Slayback's body. A grand jury refused to indict Cockerill for murder, but the economic consequences for the paper were severe. In May 1883, Pulitzer sent Cockerill to New York to manage theNew York World for him.[7]
ThePost-Dispatch was one of the first daily newspapers to print acomics section in color, on the back page of the features section, styled the "Everyday Magazine."[citation needed]
At one time, theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch had the second-largestnews bureau in Washington, D.C., of any newspaper in theMidwestern United States.[8]
After Joseph Pulitzer's retirement, generations of Pulitzers guided the newspaper, ending when great-grandson Joseph Pulitzer IV left the company in 1995.
ThePost-Dispatch was characterized by aliberaleditorial page and columnists, includingMarquis Childs. The editorial page was noted also forpolitical cartoons byDaniel R. Fitzpatrick, who won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons,[9] andBill Mauldin, who won the Pulitzer for editorial cartoons in 1959.
On May 22, 1946, thePost-Dispatch became the first newspaper in the world to publish the secret protocols for the 1939Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.[10]
During the presidency ofHarry S. Truman, the paper was one of his most outspoken critics. It associated him with thePendergast machine inKansas City, and constantly attacked hisintegrity.
In 1950, thePost-Dispatch sent a reporter, Dent McSkimming, toBrazil to cover the1950 FIFA World Cup. The reporter paid for his own travelling expenses and was the only U.S. reporter in all of Brazil covering the event.[11]
In 1959 theSt. Louis Globe-Democrat entered into a joint operating agreement with thePost-Dispatch. The Post–Globe operation merged advertising, printing functions and shared profits. ThePost-Dispatch, distributed evenings, had a smaller circulation than theGlobe-Democrat, a morning daily. TheGlobe-Democrat folded in 1983, leaving thePost-Dispatch as the only daily newspaper in the region.[12]
In August 1973 aTeamsters union local representingGlobe-Democrat andPost-Dispatch staffers went on strike, halting production for six weeks.[13]
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In September 2003, thePost-Dispatch accepted submissions for a 63rd anniversary special ofOur Own Oddities, a lighthearted feature that ran from 1940 to 1991.[14] The best submissions, including a duck-shaped cucumber and a woman born onDecember 7, 1941, with the initials W.A.R., were illustrated byPost-Dispatch artist Dan Martin and featured in the October 6, 2003, edition.[15]
On January 13, 2004, thePost-Dispatch published a 125th-anniversary edition, which included some highlights of the paper's 125 years:
On January 31, 2005, Michael Pulitzer announced the sale of Pulitzer, Inc. and all its assets, including thePost-Dispatch and a small share of the St. Louis Cardinals, toLee Enterprises ofDavenport, Iowa, for $1.46 billion. He said no family members would serve on the board of the merged company.
As of 2007,[update] thePost-Dispatch was the fifth-largest newspaper in themidwestern United States and the 26th-largest newspaper in the U.S.[16]
On March 12, 2007, the paper eliminated 31 jobs, mostly in its circulation, classified phone rooms, production, purchasing, telephone operations and marketing departments.[17] Several rounds of layoffs have followed.
On March 23, 2009, the paper converted to acompact style every day from the previousbroadsheet Sunday through Friday andtabloid on Saturday.
On May 4, 2012, thePost-Dispatch named a new editor, Gilbert Bailon.[18]
In 2015, the paper was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for its coverage of protests in Ferguson, Missouri.[19]
In September 2024, six newsroom employees were laid off.[20] The following month the paper announced it will shutter its St. Louis press facility and outsource to a printer in Columbia, Missouri. In total, 72 employees will lose their jobs.[21]
Starting November 3, 2025, thePost-Dispatch is moving to a six day printing schedule, eliminating its printed Monday edition.[22]
| Year | endorsement for president (*lost) | party |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | George McGovern* | Democratic |
| 1976 | Jimmy Carter | Democratic |
| 1980 | Jimmy Carter* | Democratic |
| 1984 | Walter Mondale* | Democratic |
| 1988 | Michael Dukakis* | Democratic |
| 1992 | Bill Clinton | Democratic |
| 1996 | Bill Clinton | Democratic |
| 2000 | Al Gore | Democratic |
| 2004 | John Kerry* | Democratic |
| 2008 | Barack Obama | Democratic |
| 2012 | Barack Obama | Democratic |
| 2016 | Hillary Clinton* | Democratic |
| 2020 | Joe Biden | Democratic |
Circulation dropped for the daily paper from 213,472 to 191,631 and then 178,801 for the two years after 2010, ending on September 30, 2011, and September 30, 2012, respectively. The Sunday paper also decreased from 401,427 to 332,825 and then to 299,227.[23] The circulation as of September 30, 2016, was 98,104 daily and 157,543 on Sunday.[24]
According to a 2017 press release from Lee Enterprises, the paper reaches more than 792,600 readers each week and stltoday.com has roughly 67 million page views a month.[25]
On February 11, 1901, the paper introduced a front-page feature called the "Weatherbird", a cartoon bird accompanying the daily weather forecast. "Weatherbird" is the oldest continuously published cartoon in the United States. Created byHarry B. Martin, who drew it through 1903, it has since been drawn by Oscar Chopin (1903–1910);S. Carlisle Martin (1910–1932);Amadee Wohlschlaeger (1932–1981); Albert Schweitzer, the first one to draw the Weatherbird in color (1981–1986); and Dan Martin (1986–present).[26]
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