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Anti-Austerity Kick. Any conversation with a St. Louis newspaperman is likely to begin with a long list of complaints about the other paper. Post-Dispatch staffers ridicule the amount of space the Globe allots to Amberg's activities. "It has to," contends Globe Managing Editor George Killenberg, "because he's not going to get it in the other paper." Killenberg was furious at Post-Dispatch coverage when Amberg won the St. Louis award for civic achievement last year. The Post-Dispatch put the news in a small frontpage box. which was relegated to the back pages in later editions. After the Post-Dispatch found fault with an all-star high school football game sponsored by the Globe, it went ahead and asked the Globe for free press passes anyway. The request was turned down flat. "Serves them right," said Amberg.
The rivalry shows no sign of cooling off, and has not hurt either paper. P-D circulation has recently grown to 375,000 on weekdays, 601,000 on Sunday. The Globe, which publishes a Saturday weekend edition but no Sunday paper, has slipped a bit lately, but is up over the long run to a daily circulation of 315,000. In the past five years, P-D ad linage has risen 32%; Globe ad linage has increased 27%. The big gain in prestige has been for the Globe, which the P-D didn't consider a competitor ten years ago. Pushed by the Globe, the Post-Dispatch is now stepping up its local coverage and hiring more reporters. "We're trying for more informality and less austerity," says Pulitzer. "Our typography is stodgy, and we're taking a hard look at it." On the other hand, the paper takes pride in its tradition and its reputation, though it is not quite what it used to be. "We have some of the characteristics of an old institution that doesn't change very fast," says its articulate editorial-page editor, Robert Lasch. "We're not going to do anything revolutionary," agrees Pulitzer. "We don't want readers to wake up some day and say this isn't the Post-Dispatch."
Prone to be slapdash and sensational at times, the Globe is more brightly written than its rival and better to look at.
It has become livelier since Killenberg, who has a keen sense of the city, took over last year as managing editor. Underneath all their irritation with each other, both papers recognize the value of the superheated competition. "A choice is good," says Pulitzer. "In fact, it is indispensable."