In an age of little or no consumer protection, the St. Louis "Post-Dispatch," under the guidance of Joseph Pulitzer II, was the first and most successful practitioner of self-imposed censorship of advertising, a practice that continues to this day. Beginning on May 1, 1929, the "Post-Dispatch" announced an aggressive program of advertising censorship aimed primarily at keeping fraudulent, misleading, deceptive, and exaggerated medical and health care products advertising out of the paper. Pulitzer also had his censorship board apply the same standards to his classified advertising and to advertising on his radio station. Although the program certainly cost the paper a great deal of advertising revenue, it may have enhanced the paper's moral stature and influence and perhaps have contributed to its continued existence. (JL)