Atlanta Journal to Halt Print Publication

M.A. Dworkin

Atlanta, Georgia - After 157 years of publishing a daily print edition, the 

Atlanta Journal-Constitution (ALC) has announced plans to halt its printed edition effective December 31, 2025. The main newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia which has a Sunday circulation that has dwindled down to 95,000 and daily of 40,000 will work at accelerating its digital transformation amid a rapidly evolving media landscape. 

For the past three years, the AJC has worked hard to transform the newspaper into a modern media company, investing millions in new reporting capabilities and technology. That strategy has centered on an ambitious goal to reach 500,000 paid digital subscribers. 

“The company will continue to publish distinctive journalism every day and with urgency on its website AJC.com, on the AJC mobile app, as well as through video, podcasts and across other digital platforms,” stated President and Publisher Andrew Morse. “The AJC’s mission to hold the powerful accountable, to inform and entertain millions of Georgians, and to provide advertisers the ability to reach unique audiences will not change. 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, and Georgia, and the South.”

In the past year 30 newspapers have switched to an all-digital platform. Newspapers are increasingly adapting to changing market conditions. The decline in print advertising revenue has not been fully compensated by digital advertising, leading many newspapers to experiment with digital subscriptions and pay walls. High printing expenses and the closure of printing operations, as the digital age has rapidly swept into the public’s daily reading habits, are the main factors pushing more newspapers to a digital-only model. 

On January 8, 2024, after 180 years of publishing a print edition, the St. Croix Avis closed down without ever attempting to bring a digital product to the market.   

The Publisher never cited the exact reasons for its sudden and terminal shutdown, nor its decision to avoid making a run at publishing a digital edition. The sad fate of the 180-year old St. Croix Avis was sealed when it refused to offer the paper for sale, or at least its namesake, to another Publisher so the newspaper could continue its historic tradition. 

Although all sorts of speculation has swirled across the island as to the reasons for its demise, inside sources seem to have deduced that internal disruptions that caused  a discontinuity amongst the family’s generations lead to its final act of closure.