The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

thumb|Logo until 2021

thumb|Logo in 2005

thumb|Logo of The Atlanta Constitution in 2001

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (sometimes known as The AJC) The two staffs were combined in 1982. Separate publication of the morning Constitution and the afternoon Journal ended in 2001 in favor of a single morning paper under the Journal-Constitution name. It was formerly co-owned with television flagship WSB-TV and six radio stations, which are located separately in Midtown Atlanta; the newspaper remained part of Cox Enterprises, while WSB became part of an independent Cox Media Group.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published its last print edition on December31, 2025, and moved to a digital-only online newspaper. Its name changed to The Atlanta Constitution in October 1869. In active competition with other Atlanta newspapers, Hemphill hired special trains (one engine and car) to deliver newspapers to the Macon marketplace. The newspaper became such a force that by 1871 it had overwhelmed the Daily Intelligencer, the only Atlanta paper to survive the American Civil War. In August 1875, its name was changed to The Atlanta Daily Constitution for two weeks, then to The Constitution again for about a year.

The Constitution established one of the first radio broadcasting stations, WGM, which began operating on March 17, 1922, two days after the debut of the Journal's WSB. However, WGM ceased operations after just over a year. Its equipment was donated to what was then known as Georgia School of Technology, which used it to help launch WBBF (later WGST, now WGKA AM 920) in January 1924.

thumb|1948 advertisement for the Constitution AM radio station WCON

In late 1947, the Constitution established radio station WCON (AM 550). Subsequently, it received approval to operate an FM station, WCON-FM 98.5 mHz, and a TV station, WCON-TV, on channel 2.

But the 1950 merger with the Journal required major adjustments. Contemporary Federal Communications Commission "duopoly" regulations disallowed owning more than one AM, FM, or TV station in a given market, and the Atlanta Journal already owned WSB AM 750 and WSB-FM 104.5, as well as WSB-TV on channel 8. WCON and the original WSB-FM were shut down to comply with the duopoly restrictions. The WCON-TV construction permit was canceled, and WSB-TV was allowed to move from channel 8 to channel 2. To standardize with its sister stations, WCON-FM's call letters were changed to WSB-FM.

Ralph McGill, editor for the Constitution in the 1940s, was one of the few southern newspaper editors to support the American Civil Rights Movement.  Other noteworthy editors of The Atlanta Constitution include J. Reginald Murphy. "Reg" Murphy gained notoriety after being kidnapped in 1974. Murphy later moved to the West Coast and served as editor of the San Francisco Examiner.

Celestine Sibley was an award-winning reporter, editor, and beloved columnist for the Constitution from 1941 to 1999 and wrote 25 fiction and nonfiction books about Southern life. After her death, the Georgia House of Representatives named its press gallery in her honor as a mark of affection and respect.

From the 1970s until he died in 1994, Lewis Grizzard was a popular humor columnist for the Constitution. He portrayed Southern "redneck" culture with a mixture of ridicule and respect.

The Constitution won numerous Pulitzer Prizes. In 1931, it won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for exposing corruption at the local level. In 1959, The Constitution won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for Ralph McGill's editorial "A Church, A School..." In 1967, it was awarded another Pulitzer Prize for Eugene Patterson's editorials. (Patterson later left his post as editor over a dispute over an op-ed piece.) In 1960, Jack Nelson won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting by exposing abuses at Milledgeville State Hospital for the mentally ill.

The papers were published in independent editions even after newsrooms were combined in 1982. In 1988 the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning went to the Constitutions Doug Marlette. Editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich received Pulitzer Prizes in 1995 and 2006. Cynthia Tucker received a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

The Atlanta Journal

The Atlanta Journal was established in 1883. Founder E. F. Hoge sold the paper to Atlanta lawyer Hoke Smith in 1887. After the Journal supported presidential candidate Grover Cleveland in the 1892 election, Smith was named as Secretary of the Interior by the victorious Cleveland. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Margaret Mitchell worked for the Journal from 1922 to 1926. Essential for the development of her 1936 Gone with the Wind was the series of profiles of prominent Georgia Civil War generals she wrote for The Atlanta Journals Sunday magazine, the research for which, scholars believe, led her to her work on the novel. In 1922, the Journal founded one of the first radio broadcasting stations in the South, WSB. The radio station and the newspaper were sold in 1939 to James Middleton Cox, founder of Cox Enterprises. The Journal carried the motto "Covers Dixie like the Dew".

Merger

Cox Enterprises bought the Constitution in June 1950, bringing both newspapers under one ownership and combining sales and administrative offices. Separate newsrooms were kept until 1982. Both newspapers continued to be published for another two decades, with much of the same content except for timely editing. The Journal, an afternoon paper, led the morning Constitution until the 1970s when afternoon papers began to fall out of favor with subscribers. In November 2001, the two papers, once fierce competitors, merged to produce one daily morning paper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The two papers had published a combined edition on weekends and holidays for years previously.

Before the merger, both papers planned to start TV stations: WSB-TV on channel 8 for the Journal, and WCON-TV on channel 2 for the Constitution. Only WSB got on the air, beginning in 1948 as the first TV station in the Deep South. It moved from channel 8 to WCON's allotment on channel 2 in 1951 to avoid TV interference from the nearby channel 9. (WROM-TV since moved, leaving WGTV on 8, after it was also used by WLWA-TV, now WXIA-TV 11.) This was also necessary to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules preventing the excessive concentration of media ownership, preventing the combined paper from running two stations.

In 1989, Bill Dedman received the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for The Color of Money, his exposé on racial discrimination in mortgage lending, or redlining, by Atlanta banks.

In 1993, Mike Toner received the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for When Bugs Fight Back, his series about organisms and their resistance to antibiotics and pesticides.

In 2002, Julia Wallace was the first woman to become editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She was named Editor of the Year 2004 by Editor & Publisher magazine. At the time of the announcement, The AJC had roughly 40,000 print subscribers, a reduction from 94,000 in 2020 and a high of 630,000 in 2004.

Sustainability

The AJC's president, Andrew Morse, has set a goal of 500,000 paid digital subscribers by the end of 2026 to make the business sustainable. However, as of August 2025 the paper reported only 75,000 digital-only subscriptions, an increase from 55,000 in 2023. At its present rate, the AJC is will not meet the 500,000 paid subscriber goal.

Headquarters

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is based in Midtown Atlanta. It previously had its headquarters in Perimeter Center, an office district of Dunwoody, Georgia.

Controversy

In 1988, The Atlanta Journal-Constitutions<nowiki/>' editor, Bill Kovach, resigned in November after the stories on banks and others had ruffled feathers in Atlanta and among corporate leadership, some of whom complained of a "take-no-prisoners" editorial approach. The court case regarding this has been dropped after the death of both Richard Jewell and the initial reporter. Jewell died in 2007 at age 44 from diabetes due to poor eating habits that escalated after he was accused. Judd has previously resigned from the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1988 after a series he co-reported misquoted sources and required the paper to issue at least 10 corrections in print.

Organization of the newspaper

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has four major sections daily. After the AJC ceased all print publication on December 31, 2025, it still publishes a digital version of traditional newspaper sections and pages.

1931, Public service, The Atlanta Constitution, for exposing graft in city government.

1948, Local reporting, George Goodwin, The Atlanta Journal, for exposing vote fraud in Telfair County during the 1946 gubernatorial campaign.

1959, Editorial writing, Ralph McGill, The Atlanta Constitution. The best known of 10 “editorials,” really front-page columns, was about the 1958 Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple bombing.

1960, Local reporting under deadline pressure, Jack Nelson, The Atlanta Constitution, for exposing abuses at Milledgeville State Hospital for the insane.

1967, Editorial writing, Eugene Patterson, The Atlanta Constitution. The editorials discussed the ambush shooting of James Meredith, Julian Bond’s exclusion from the Georgia House of Representatives and other topics.

1988, Editorial cartooning, Doug Marlette, The Atlanta Constitution, shared with The Charlotte Observer, where four of his 10 prize-winning cartoons were published.

1989, Investigative reporting, Bill Dedman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The Color of Money,” a series about racial discrimination in lending practices in middle-income neighborhoods in metro Atlanta.

1993, Explanatory journalism, Mike Toner, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “When Bugs Fight Back,” a series about how organisms have developed resistance to antibiotics and pesticides.

1995, Editorial cartooning, Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for cartoons on topics including U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, basketball great Dominique Wilkins, and the 1996 Summer Olympics mascot.

2006, Editorial cartooning, Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for cartoons on topics including U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq.

2007, Commentary, Cynthia Tucker, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for editorial columns.

2007, History, Hank Klibanoff, managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for his book, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, written with Gene Roberts.

Notable people

James M. Cox
Bill Dedman
George Goodwin
Henry W. Grady
Lewis Grizzard
Joel Chandler Harris
Hank Klibanoff
Bill Kovach
Mike Luckovich
Doug Marlette
Ralph McGill
Margaret Mitchell
Jack Nelson
Maude Andrews Ohl
Eugene Patterson
Wallace Putnam Reed
Celestine Sibley
Hoke Smith
Mike Toner
Cynthia Tucker

References

External links

AJCePaper
2021 Press On campaign
AJC Journalists pages