''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It is the flagship publication of

Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is an American private company, privately held global conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major ope ...

. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ''The Atlanta Journal'' and ''The Atlanta Constitution''. 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. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' has its headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of

Dunwoody, Georgia Dunwoody is a city located in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. As a Atlanta metropolitan area, northern suburb of Atlanta, Dunwoody is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. It was incorporated as a city on December 1, 2008, but its area ...

. It was formerly co-owned with television flagship

WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...

and six radio stations, which are located separately in

midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown for short, is a Urban area, high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used ...

; the newspaper remained part of Cox Enterprises, while WSB became part of an independent

Cox Media Group CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...

''The Atlanta Constitution''

In 1868, Carey Wentworth Styles, along with his joint venture partners James Anderson and (future Atlanta mayor) William Hemphill purchased a small newspaper, the ''Atlanta Daily Opinion'' which they renamed ''The Constitution'', as it was originally known, was first published on June 16, 1868. Its name changed to ''The Atlanta Constitution'' in October 1869. Hemphill became the business manager, a position he retained until 1901. When Styles was unable to liquidate his holdings in an Albany newspaper, he could not pay for his purchase of the ''Constitution''. He was forced to surrender his interest in the paper to Anderson and Hemphill, who each owned one half. In 1870, Anderson sold his one-half interest in the paper to Col. E. Y. Clarke. 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 The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. In August 1875, its name was changed to ''The Atlanta Daily Constitution'' for two weeks, then to ''The Constitution'' again for about a year. In 1876, Captain

Evan Howell Evan Park Howell (December 10, 1839August 6, 1905) was an American politician and early telegraph operator, as well as an officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Early years and education Evan Howell was born on December ...

(a former ''Intelligencer'' city editor) purchased the 50 percent interest in the paper from E. Y. Clarke and became its editor-in-chief. That same year,

Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his t ...

began writing for the paper. He soon created the character of

Uncle Remus Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African American folktales compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist in post–Reconstruction era Atlant ...

, a black storyteller, to recount stories from African-American culture. The Howell family eventually owned full interest in the paper from 1902 until 1950. Articles_by_and_photo_of_Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman_in_1916

Articles_by_and_photo_of_Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman_in_1916

In October 1876, the newspaper was renamed ''The Daily Constitution'' before settling on the name ''The Atlanta Constitution'' in September 1881. During the 1880s, editor

Henry W. Grady Henry Woodfin Grady (May 24, 1850 – December 23, 1889) was an American journalist and orator who helped reintegrate the states of the Confederacy (American Civil War), Confederacy into the Union (American Civil War), Union after the American C ...

was a spokesman for the "

New South New South, New South Democracy or New South Creed is a slogan in the history of the American South first used after the American Civil War. Reformers used it to call for a modernization of society and attitudes, to integrate more fully with th ...

", encouraging industrial development as well as the founding of Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Evan Howell's family would come to own ''The Atlanta Constitution'' from 1902 to 1950. 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 The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

, which used it to help launch WBBF (later WGST, now WGKA AM 920) in January 1924. 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 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

"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 Ralph Emerson McGill (February 5, 1898 – February 3, 1969) was an American journalist and editorialist. An anti-segregationist editor, he published the ''Atlanta Constitution'' newspaper. He was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Ju ...

, 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 The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

''. 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 The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republican Party (United States), Repu ...

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 ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term mainly applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American ...

" culture with a mixture of ridicule and respect. ''The Constitution'' won numerous

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

s. In 1931, it won a

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journali ...

for exposing corruption at the local level. In 1959, ''The Constitution'' won a

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, ...

for Ralph McGill's editorial " A Church, A School..." In 1967, it was awarded another

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

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 Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) *Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-prof ...

went to the '' Constitution''s

Doug Marlette Douglas Nigel Marlette (December 6, 1949 – July 10, 2007) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist who, at the time of his death, had also published two novels and was "finding his voice in writing long-length fiction."

. Editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich received Pulitzer Prizes in 1995 and 2006. Cynthia Tucker received a 2007

Pulitzer Prize for Commentary The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary is an award administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism "for distinguished commentary, using any available journalistic tool". It is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are ...

''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 Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

in the 1892 election, Smith was named as Secretary of the Interior by the victorious Cleveland. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel that was published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel ''Gone With the Wind (novel), Gone ...

worked for the ''Journal'' from 1922 to 1926. Essential for the development of her 1936 ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'' was the series of profiles of prominent Georgia Civil War generals she wrote for ''The Atlanta Journal''s 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 Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas have shifted over the years), or the extent of the area i ...

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:

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 The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

. 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 WGTV (channel 8) is a PBS member television station licensed to Athens, Georgia, United States, a legacy of the station's early years as a service of the University of Georgia (UGA). Owned by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission ...

on 8, after it was also used by WLWA-TV, now

WXIA-TV WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). The two stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north end ...

11.) This was also necessary to satisfy

(FCC) rules preventing the excessive

concentration of media ownership In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...

, preventing the combined paper from running two stations. In 1989,

Bill Dedman Bill Dedman is an American investigative reporter and author. He is best known for ''The Color of Money'', his 1988 investigation of redlining of middle-income black neighborhoods by banks and other mortgage lenders. Dedman received the 1989 Pu ...

received the

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) * Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...

for ''The Color of Money'', his exposé on racial discrimination in mortgage lending, or

redlining Redlining is a Discrimination, discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld from neighborhoods that have significant numbers of Race (human categorization), racial and Ethnic group, ethnic minorities. Redlining has been mos ...

, by Atlanta banks. The newspapers' editor, Bill Kovach, had resigned in November 1988 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. In 1993, Mike Toner received the

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear p ...

for ''When Bugs Fight Back'', his series about organisms and their resistance to

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...

and

pesticides Pesticides are substances that are used to pest control, control pest (organism), pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for a ...

. Julia Wallace was named the first female editor of ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' in 2002. She was named Editor of the Year 2004 by ''

Editor & Publisher ''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the news media industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry," with offices in Hendersonville, ...

'' magazine. Mike Luckovich won the Pulitzer Prize for

editorial cartoon A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...

ing a second time in 2006. He had first received it in 1995 under ''The Atlanta Constitution'' banner.

Circulation

The paper used to cover all 159 counties in Georgia and the bordering counties of western

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, where many Atlantans vacation or have second homes. In addition, it had some circulation in other bordering communities, such as

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...

, where the ''Sunday Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' was available. Due to the downturn in the newspaper industry and competing media sources, ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' contracted distribution dramatically in the late 2000s to serve only the metro area. From Q1 of 2007 to Q1 of 2010, daily circulation plunged over 44%.

Headquarters

''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' has its headquarters in Perimeter Center, an office district of Dunwoody, Georgia. Previously the ''AJC'' headquarters were in

Downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts (Midtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead being the others), it is the location of many corporate and region ...

near the Five Points district. In August 2009, the ''AJC'' occupied less than 30 percent of its downtown building, becoming outdated and costly. Later that year, the ''AJC'' consolidated its printing operations by transferring the downtown production center to the Gwinnett County facility. In 2010, the newspaper relocated its headquarters to leased offices in Dunwoody, a northern suburb of Atlanta. In November 2010, the company donated its former downtown headquarters to the city of Atlanta, which plans to convert the building into a fire and police training academy. In February 2024, the newspaper announced it would return its headquarters to midtown Atlanta after nearly 14 years, citing a desire "to be at the beating heart of the city" it is named for. The company signed a lease on 21,000 square feet of newsroom and studio space in the Promenade Central building on Peachtree Street, planning to complete its relocation by the end of the year.

Controversy

In 1996, ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' was the first newspaper to report on

Centennial Olympic Park bombing The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a pipe bombing attack on Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, on July 27, 1996, during the Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed one person and injured 111 others; another pers ...

hero Richard Jewell being accused of actually being the bomber, citing leaked information from the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

. Even after Jewell was cleared of any accusations by the FBI, the ''AJC'' refused to issue an apology and remains the only paper to have not retracted their story by Kathy Scruggs and Ron Martz falsely accusing him of terrorism. The court case regarding this has been dropped after the death of both Richard Jewell and the initial reporter. Jewell died not long after from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

due to poor eating habits that escalated after he was accused.

Organization of the newspaper

''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' has four major sections daily. On Sundays, it has additional sections. The main section usually consists of Georgia, national, international, and business news. The Metro section includes major headlines from the Metro Atlanta area. The Metro section usually reports the weather forecast. The Sports section reports sports-related news. Before social media became popular, the Metro and Sports sections contained "The Vent" features, where readers expressed opinions about current events.Robin M. Kowalski, ''Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors'', 2013, p. 99 1475793545 Quote: "The ''Atlanta Constitution'', for instance, has a column entitled "The Vent" that contains people's complaints." The Living section contains articles, recipes, reviews, movie times, and puzzles, including

Sudoku Sudoku (; ; originally called Number Place) is a logic puzzle, logic-based, combinatorics, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and ...

, crossword puzzle, and word scramble, plus a full page of color comics daily. Comics are printed in a separate section in Sunday editions.