The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will end the printed edition of its paper by the end of 2025, moving the publication to a digital-first operation.
“We will begin the new year as a fully digital organization, committed, as always, to being the most essential and engaging news source for the people of Atlanta, Georgia and the South,” newspaper president and publisher Andrew Morse wrote in a letter to subscribers on Thursday morning.
The AJC has been in business for 157 years. The newspaper wrote that within the last three years it has shifted its strategy to transform the paper and focus on digital subscriptions.
“We spent the past two and a half years investing in our journalism,” Morse said. “We’ve expanded our business team, we’ve expanded our politics team, we opened new bureaus and (just) as importantly we invested in our product development, analytics, data science, all the capabilities to deliver that journalism effectively.”
The AJC is owned by Cox Enterprises, which acquired The Atlanta Journal in 1939 and The Atlanta Constitution in 1950 before merging the two and producing a singular paper in 2001.
The decision to end the print operation came from leadership at the AJC and not its owners, but it will result in layoffs of about 30 full- and part-time jobs involved in designing and distributing the newspaper.
In order to make sure all readers know where to find the paper once it’s digital, the publication said they will launch a “white glove” service to assist long-time print subscribers that need it.
“I’m proud of our team for making these decisions, as much as I will miss the nostalgia of seeing the paper in my driveway every morning,” Cox chairman and CEO Alex Taylor said.
“I love print, but I love journalism more,” Morse added.
The last printed edition of the paper will be published on Wednesday, Dec. 31.
