Casper S. Yost

Casper Salathiel Yost (1864–1941) was the longtime editor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, a poet and an honored journalist.

Early life

Yost was born in Sedalia, Missouri on July 1, 1854. His parents were George Casper Yost and Sarah Elizabeth Roberts Yost.

Career

Yost apprenticed as a printer and a writer. He moved to St. Louis in 1881 and worked as a reporter on the St. Louis Chronicle. He worked as a telegraph operator on the railroads until 1885 in Richland, Missouri. Later that year, Yost moved back to St. Louis and returned to his journalism career. He began working as a reporter on the Missouri Republican, where he stayed for three years.

Yost began working at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in 1889 and remained with the paper for 50 years. He was the founder of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and was influential in developing its code of ethics. Yost helped create the organization to enhance "the integrity of the profession" in response to criticism that journalism was only for entertainment and profits. After Frederick Allen's critique of the integrity of jazz-age journalists in the January 1922 issue of Atlantic Monthly, Yost called a meeting of like minded editors which lead to the creation of ASNE. He sent letters to editors throughout the country suggesting the creation of a national society, and in March 1922, editors from many major newspapers met in Chicago. These some of these included the editors of the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Daily News, the Detroit News, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, among many others. Yost was chosen as chairman and E.C. Hopwood of the Cleveland Plain Dealer was elected secretary. On April 25, 1922, the group met again at the Waldorf-Astoria, with additional newspaper editors and were set to craft a tentative constitution and solidify their organization. In a letter to his wife, Anna, Yost wrote that creating ASNE was "the greatest thing ever done for journalism."