St. Louis, Missouri is a city with a deep-rooted literary history. From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists to authors of classic texts, the city has produced some of the most influential writers in the country. In this article, we'll explore the authors and publications that have made St.
Louis a literary landmark. The public radio station KWMU-FM, which later became known as St. Louis Public Radio, began broadcasting from the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus in 1970. That same year, The West End World premiered in the Central West End.
Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in St. Louis with support from the city, and it quickly became one of the most important alternative weeklies in the country. The Gay News-Telegraph was founded by journalist Jim Thomas and later became Lesbian and Gay News-Telegraph and then simply News-Telegraph. In 1969, Replay magazine was established with offices in the basement of the Cheshire Inn. It eventually evolved into St.
Louis Magazine, which has been published continuously since then. The Louis Association of Black Journalists was founded by more than a dozen journalists who worked in print, radio, and television. Joseph Pulitzer and his half-brother Michael Pulitzer successfully fought an attempt by other family members to force the sale of Pulitzer Publishing Company. To help pay for this, the company made its first public offering. American City Business Journals bought St.
Louis Magazine in 1997. Emily Pulitzer and other family members founded the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington, D. C., with former Post Washington Bureau Chief Jon Sawyer as CEO. Over time, it became the largest source of money for business reporting worldwide. Media partners for projects funded by the Pulitzer Center include The Post-Dispatch, Riverfront Times, American City Business Journals, and St. Louis Public Radio.
In October 2020, Cleveland-based Euclid Media acquired the Riverfront Times. Tony Messenger from The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2019 for his columns about rural Missourians forced into modern-day debtor prisons—the paper's 19th Pulitzer Prize. Lee Enterprises moved The Post's design functions and photocopy desk to a facility in Munster, Indiana. The NorthSider expanded to start publishing a sister newspaper, The SouthSider weekly newspaper. As Gateway Journalism Review celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020, local and national media devoted enormous resources to covering COVID-19 even as it affected their results. The RFT dismissed most of its staff and announced plans to operate only online but later hired some reporters and managed to continue publishing a reduced version. Times Newspapers suspended print editions of its three newspapers including Webster-Kirkwood Times but later a group of employees bought the operations and retrieved the printed edition. In August 2020, allegations of systemic racism went public at St.
Louis Public Radio and several weeks later UMSL administrators ousted Tim Eby from his post; the station hired an interim CEO while preparing a report on diversity and inclusion practices and looking for a successor. The Missouri Independent—an online news outlet focused on state government—began publishing in October 2020. Scott Faughn, editor of SEMO Times that covers southeastern Missouri joined former Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton to launch The Missouri Times which focuses on state politics. The St. Louis Public Library maintains an archive of Gateway Journalism Review when it was known as St. Louis Journalism Review—a vibrant testimony to the intellectual and cultural development of Missouri in the 19th century and to the outstanding role of St.
Louis authors. A literary map of Missouri provides titles for stories of regional interest while a list of professional Missouri writers includes living authors from Missouri and their associated cities. A bibliography compiled in 1901 offers two concise yet outdated studies of Missouri's literary and theatrical landmarks many of which relate to St. Louis authors. The collection includes documents and volumes related to 8th Missouri Volunteer Infantry (the American Zouaves) that fought in American Civil War as well as Reedy's Mirror—William Reedy's weekly political-literary magazine published in St. Louis—and selections from works by many authors. Don't miss out on original stories about local journalism that takes place between coasts! Sign up for Gateway Journalism Review's newsletter to get news from Midwest media delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday afternoon.
