The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2023) |
ISSN 1539-7459 | | |
Website | ajc.com |
---|
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is an American daily newspaper based in
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has its headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody, Georgia. 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 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.[4] Its name changed to The Atlanta Constitution in October 1869.[5] Hemphill became the business manager, a position that he retained until 1901.[6] 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 then each owned one half. In 1870 Anderson sold his one half interest in the paper to Col. E. Y. Clarke.[7] In active competition with other Atlanta newspapers, Hemphill hired special trains (one engine and car) to deliver newspapers to the Macon marketplace.[8] 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 changed to The Atlanta Daily Constitution for two weeks, then to The Constitution again for about a year.[9] In 1876 Captain Evan Howell (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 began writing for the paper. He soon created the character of Uncle Remus, a black storyteller, as a way of recounting stories from African-American culture. The Howell family would eventually own full interest in the paper from 1902 until 1950.
In October 1876 the newspaper was renamed as The Daily Constitution, before settling on the name The Atlanta Constitution in September 1881.[10] During the 1880s, editor Henry W. Grady was a spokesman for the "New South", 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.[6]
The Constitution established one of the first radio broadcasting stations,
In late 1947, the Constitution established radio station WCON (AM 550).[12] Subsequently, it received approval to begin operating 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. In order to comply with the duopoly restrictions, WCON and the original WSB-FM were shut down.[13] The WCON-TV construction permit was canceled, and WSB-TV was allowed to move from channel 8 to channel 2.[14] In addition, in order to standardize with its sister stations, WCON-FM's call letters were changed to WSB-FM.
Celestine Sibley was an award-winning reporter, editor, and beloved columnist for the Constitution from 1941 to 1999, and also 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 his death in 1994,
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.
Even after newsrooms were combined in 1982, the papers were published in independent editions. In 1988 the
The Atlanta Journal
The Atlanta Journal was established in 1883. Founder E. F. Hoge sold the paper to Atlanta lawyer
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, which were 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.
Prior to the merger, both papers planned to start TV 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.[15] 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.[16]
In 1993, Mike Toner received the
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 magazine.[17]
Circulation
The paper used to cover all 159
Headquarters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has its headquarters in
Controversy
In 1996, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first newspaper to report on Centennial Olympic Park bombing hero Richard Jewell being accused of actually being the bomber, citing leaked information of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Even after Jewell was cleared of any accusations by the FBI, the AJC refused to issue an apology and still 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, due to poor eating habits that escalated after he was accused.[23]
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 news, national news, international news, and business news. The Metro section includes major headlines from the
See also
- Atlanta Constitution Building (former headquarters)
- Richard Jewell
- Maude Andrews Ohl
- Media in Atlanta
- List of newspapers in Georgia (U.S. state)
References
- ^ "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". www.mondotimes.com. Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ "The Atlanta Constitution". Fishwrap. June 16, 2018. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
- ^ "Atlanta Journal, Atlanta Constitution to Combine". The Write News. October 17, 2001. Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
- ^ Raymond B. Nixon (June 17, 1945). "Constitution's Founder Fought for Georgia with Pen and Sword". The Atlanta Constitution. Archived from the original on July 25, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
- ^ "About The Constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1868–1869". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on May 20, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
- ^ a b "AJC History: The Story of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 2019. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
- ^ Wallace Putnam Reed (1889). History of Atlanta, Georgia: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. D. Mason & Company. p. 409.
- ^ Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper for Publishers, Advertisers, Advertising Agents and Allied Interests. Fourth Estate Publishing Company. 1917. p. 16.
- ^ "About The Constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875–1876". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on May 20, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
- ^ "About The Atlanta Constitution. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1881–2001". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
- ^ "Tech Sends First Message To Radio Fans of America" by Parks Rusk, Atlanta Constitution, January 15, 1924, page 1.
- ^ "WCON, 7th Atlanta AM Outlet, To Encourage Local Talent" The Billboard, October 25, 1947, page 10.
- ^ "FCC Roundup: Deletions", Broadcasting, 3 July 1950, page 76.
- ^ "Atlanta Merger", Broadcasting, 10 April 1950, p. 50.
- ^ Dedman, Bill (ed.). "The Color of Money". Power Reporting. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
- New York Times. Archivedfrom the original on May 5, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Mark (February 1, 2005). "Editor of the Year 2004: Being Julia, In Atlanta". Editor & Publisher. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
- ^ "AJC announces more cuts to jobs and circulation". Atlanta Business Chronicle. December 10, 2008. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
- ^ Smith, Giannina (November 5, 2007). "Report: AJC's spring and summer circulation plunges". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
- ^ a b Collier, Joe Guy (August 17, 2009). "AJC moving from downtown to Perimeter Mall area". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
- ^ a b Tobin, Rachel (November 9, 2010). "Former AJC headquarters given to city of Atlanta". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
- ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
- ^ McBride, Jessica (December 13, 2020). "Richard Jewell's Story Is Featured on Netflix Right Now. Here's How He Died". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
- ^ 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."
Further reading
- Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher. The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers (1980) pp 68–72
- Perry, Chuck. 2004. "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". New Georgia Encyclopedia Georgia Humanities Council.
- Prennig, Dennis Joseph (Winter 1989–1990). "The First Twenty-One Years of The Atlanta Constitution". Atlanta Historical Society: 29–36 – via Atlanta History Center.
External links
- Official website
- AJCePaper
- 2021 Press On campaign
- AJC Journalists pages
- "Atlanta Journal-Constitution". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
- "Atlanta Historic Newspapers Archive". Digital Library of Georgia.
- "Atlanta journal I constitution". Photographs. Georgia State University.