St. Louis Globe-Democrat

St. Louis Globe-Democrat

Front page of the newspaper on April 17, 1912, reporting on the sinking of the Titanic
Type	Daily newspaper
Owner(s)	Co-founder William McKee and his descendants (1852-1955); Newhouse Newspapers (1955-1984); Jeffrey M. Gluck (1984-1985); Veritas Corp. (1986)
Founded	July 1, 1852
Language	English
Ceased publication	October 29, 1986
Headquarters	St. Louis, Missouri

The St. Louis Globe-Democrat was a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1852 until 1986. The paper began operations on July 1, 1852, as The Daily Missouri Democrat, changing its name to The Missouri Democrat in 1868,^[1] then to The St. Louis Democrat in 1873.^[2] It merged with the St. Louis Globe (founded in 1872)^[3] to form the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1875.^[4]

In their earliest days, the predecessor newspapers which eventually merged to form the St. Louis Globe-Democrat were staunch advocates of freedom and anti-slavery in Missouri. The Globe-Democrat, colloquially called the Globe, eventually became the most widely read morning paper in St. Louis, with a huge circulation, and used this support to promote civic responsibility and great causes regarding urban improvements.

The newspaper was the morning paper for Greater St. Louis and had some competition from the evening St. Louis Post-Dispatch (created by a merger of the St. Louis Post and the St. Louis Dispatch) and the St. Louis Star-Times (created by a merger of The St. Louis Star and The St. Louis Times). The Star-Times ceased operations in 1951.^[5] The Globe-Democrat and the rival Post-Dispatch carried on an intense rivalry for three more decades, with clear and substantial philosophical differences both in news coverage (where the Globe focused heavily on local issues and the Post on national and international news) and editorial positions, where each had a national reputation—the Globe-Democrat as a strong conservative voice and the Post-Dispatch a strong liberal voice.

The animus of each paper for the other wasn’t so apparent in the business end of their operations. Following a lengthy and debilitating strike in 1959 at the Globe-Democrat, the two papers had operated under a joint operating agreement, with the protection of the Newspaper Preservation Act, which allowed two competing papers to have some joint operations free of antitrust violation, in return for which the failing paper of the two must continue operation unless it can show proof of irreversible financial losses. The Post-Dispatch, owned by the Pulitzer Publishing Company, handled all production and printing for both papers. The Globe-Democrat relinquished having an edition on Sunday, the most lucrative day for advertising and circulation revenue, since there was not press capacity to produce both the Post and Globe at the same time. Advertising was sold jointly, and profits were shared equally.

The Globe-Democrat’s competitive market position was reduced by the terms of that Joint Operating Agreement in 1959, which was expanded in 1969 and 1979. The papers shared all business and advertising functions, with only the news functions separate. Until the last fiscal year of its existence, the Post-Globe Agency, as the joint operation was known, operated in the red. The agency was said to be making a marginal profit that year.^[6]

In 1983 an agreement between the heirs of S.I. Newhouse and the St. Louis Post Dispatch to close the Globe and enter into a 50-year profit-sharing arrangement was determined by the U.S. Justice Department to be an Antitrust Act collusion, and the government required the Globe-Democrat to seek new ownership rather than summarily close the paper. (There was no requirement for the Post-Dispatch to do any of the services it had been providing under the Joint Operating Agreement, which lessened any attractiveness to prospective buyers). In early 1984 the paper was purchased by Jeffrey M. Gluck, which brought an end to all joint operations, and Gluck had to find his own printers and set up his own advertising, circulation, news, production and other departments from scratch in just a matter of weeks, something perhaps unprecedented in modern journalism history, certainly for a 250,000-circulation paper.  When the change in ownership took effect on January 27, 1984, the Post-Dispatch switched to morning publication the same day, making it head-to-head competition.

In August 1986 the paper filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time the newspaper listed $8 million in debts. In December the newspaper suspended publication,^[7] and the Bankruptcy Court appointed a trustee to seek new owners. In January 1986 Veritas Corporation purchased the paper for $500,000 and, after a 51-day hiatus, the paper resumed publication on January 27. Veritas, formed by businessmen John B. Prentis and William E. Franke, committed to contribute $4 million to the newspaper's operations.^[8] That did not prove sufficient, and the Globe-Democrat ended publication on October 29 after the newspaper failed to secure a necessary $15 million loan from the state of Missouri. An attorney had challenged the legality of the state's ability to grant that particular bond package, passed in the state legislature earlier that year.^[9]