<\/p>\n
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will publish its last print edition on December 31, closing a chapter that began in 1868 as it moves all resources into digital publishing.<\/p>\n
Publisher Andrew Morse, who joined in 2023, told The New York Times, which broke the story, that the decision was overdue. \u201cPrinting newspapers and putting them in trucks and delivering them on people\u2019s front stoops has not been the most effective way to distribute the news in a very long time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The AJC becomes one of the largest U.S. dailies to abandon print entirely, a step few peers have yet taken despite industry-wide declines. A third of American dailies still print seven days a week, while others have reduced frequency.<\/p>\n
In the UK, the Indpendent has been digital only since February 2016 and has gained plaudits for its digital innovation since it stopped printing.<\/p>\n
Cox Enterprises, the AJC\u2019s parent, has invested $150m in digital transformation over five years. Morse has expanded product, technology, analytics and marketing teams, launched new bureaus across Georgia, built a digital video team and relocated the newsroom to Midtown Atlanta under the slogan \u201cThe Substance and Soul of the South.\u201d<\/p>\n
It invested in its app product, building an award-winning new version with UK firm Pugpig. <\/p>\n
Morse set a target of 500,000 digital subscribers by 2026. The AJC has only about 115,000 paying subscribers today, 75,000 of them digital-only. Still, digital subscriptions are up 35% year-on-year, and revenue is projected to rise 22% by 2025.<\/p>\n
One headwind has been generative AI. \u201cOur organic traffic from Google has dropped 40 percent in the last year. Never could have predicted that,\u201d Morse said. He argued that the print product, though still modestly profitable, was slowing the digital shift: \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be where audiences engage with us. It\u2019s not where advertisers want to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
The change will affect about 30 print staff, half of them part-time. Readers will still have access to an e-paper replica, and staff will work with subscribers to transition online.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love print, but I love journalism more,\u201d Morse said. \u201cUnless news organisations have the courage to disrupt themselves faster than the marketplace is disrupting the industry, really important institutions that have existed for generations will cease to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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