The Atlanta Journal - Constitution The Atlanta Journal - Constitution ( AJC ) is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta , Georgia , United States . It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises . The " Atlanta Journal - Constitution " is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution . The staff was combined in 1982 . Separate publication of the morning " Constitution " and afternoon " Journal " ended in 2001 . The AJC has its headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody , Georgia . It is also co - owned with television flagship WSB - TV and six radio stations , which are located separately in midtown . Subsequent to the staff consolidation of 1982 , the afternoon " Journal " maintained a center - right editorial stance , while the editorials and op - ed s in the morning " Constitution " were liberal . When the editions combined in 2001 , the editorial page staffs also merged . The editorials and op - eds have attempted to strike a more " balanced " tone . Most of the paper ' s editorial stances have been closer to those of the old " Constitution . " " 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 in the 1892 election , Smith was named as Secretary of the Interior by the victorious Cleveland . Pulitzer Prize - winning novelist Margaret Mitchell worked for the " Journal " from 1922 to 1926 . Important for the development of her 1936 " Gone With the Wind " were 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 the South ' s first radio station , WSB AM 740 ( now 750 ) . The radio station and the newspaper were sold in 1939 to James Middleton Cox , founder of what would become Cox Enterprises . The " Journal " carried the motto " Covers Dixie like the Dew " . " The Atlanta Constitution " . " The Constitution " , as it was originally known , was first published on June 16 , 1868 . Its name changed to " The Atlanta Constitution " in October 1869 . It was such a force that by 1871 it had killed off 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 . In 1876 Captain Evan Howell ( a former " Intelligencer " city editor ) purchased a controlling interest and became its editor - in - chief . That same year , Joel Chandler Harris began writing for the paper . He soon invented the character of Uncle Remus , a black storyteller , as a way of recounting stories from African - American culture . In October 1876 the newspaper became " The Daily Constitution " , before settling on the name " The Atlanta Constitution " in September 1881 . During the 1880s , editor Henry W . Grady was a spokesman for the " New South , " and encouraged industrial development . The " Constitution " started the second radio station , WGM AM 710 , having received its Federal Radio Commission broadcast license in March 1922 , just two or four days after WSB . It is now succeeded by WGST AM 640 , though its original facility ( after frequency changes to 1110 and 890 ) is now WGKA AM 920 . The station folded after just over a year , and was donated to the Georgia School of Technology ( now Georgia Tech ) . Ralph McGill , editor for the " Constitution " in the 1940s , was one of the few southern newspaper editors to support the American Civil Rights Movement . In 1946 , reporter David Snell wrote that Japan had developed its own atomic bomb prior to Hiroshima and Nagasaki . From the 1970s until his death in 1994 , Lewis Grizzard was a popular humor columnist for the " Constitution " . He portrayed Southern " redneck " culture with a mixture of ridicule and respect . Other noteworthy editors of " The Atlanta Constitution " include J . Reginald Murphy . " Reg " Murphy gained notoriety with his 1974 kidnapping . Murphy later served as editor of the " San Francisco Examiner " . " The Constitution " won numerous Pulitzer Prize s . 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 . In 1960 , Jack Nelson won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting , by exposing abuses at Milledgeville State Hospital for the mentally ill . In 1988 the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning went to the " Constitution ' s " Doug Marlette . Mike Luckovich received a Pulitzer Prize in 1995 and 2006 . Cynthia Tucker also received a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for Pulitzer Prize for Commentary . 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 , though even after the newsrooms were combined , both papers continued to be published . 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 . Prior to the merger , both papers had planned to start TV stations : WSB - TV 8 for the " Journal " , and WCON - TV 2 for the " Constitution " . Only WSB actually got on the air ( making it the first TV station in the South ) , moving from channel 8 to WCON ' s allotment on channel 2 in 1951 to avoid TV interference from a nearby channel 9 . ( WROM - TV since moved , leaving WGTV on 8 , after it was also used by WLWA - TV , now WXIA - TV 11 . ) This was also necessary to satisfy Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) rules preventing the excessive concentration of media ownership , preventing the combined paper from running two stations . In 1989 , Bill Dedman received the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for " The Color of Money , " his expose on racial discrimination in mortgage lending , or redlining , 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 . ( see Anne Cox Chambers ) . In 1993 , Mike Toner received the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting for " When Bugs Fight Back , " his series about organisms and their resistance to antibiotics and pesticides . Julia Wallace was named the first female editor of The Atlanta Journal - Constitution in 2002 . In 2005 she was named Editor of the Year in 2005 by " Editor and Publisher " magazine . Mike Luckovich again won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial cartoon ing in 2006 , an award he had received 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 where many Atlantans vacation or have second homes , in addition to some circulation in other bordering communities , such as Tallahassee , Florida , where the Sunday AJC was available . Due to the downturn in the newspaper industry , it contracted dramatically in the late 2000s to only serve the metro area . Since Q1 of 2007 to Q1 of 2010 , daily circulation has plunged over 44 % . Headquarters . The AJC has its headquarters in Perimeter Center , an office district of Dunwoody , Georgia . Previously the AJC headquarters were in Downtown Atlanta near the Five Points district . In August 2009 , the AJC occupied less than 30 percent of its downtown location , which was outdated and costly to maintain . 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 former Downtown headquarters was donated to the city of Atlanta , which plans to convert the building into a fire and police training academy . Parts of the Atlanta Journal - Constitution . The AJC has four major sections daily . On Sundays , it has additional sections . The main section usually consists of Georgia news , Nationwide news , World news , and Business news . Another AJC section is called Metro . This includes major headlines from the Metro - Atlanta area . The Metro section usually reports the weather as well . The next section is Sports . The Sports section reports anything sports related . The Metro and Sports sections often contain " The Vent " where readers vent about things that are currently happening . The final section of the daily AJC is Living . In this section , you will find articles , recipes , reviews , movie times , a sudoku , a crossword puzzle , and a word scramble . Also , it usually contains the comics , however , on Sundays , the comics are a separate section .