Printed copies of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are shown on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will stop providing a print edition at year’s end and go completely digital, a dramatic change for a storied newspaper founded shortly after the Civil War.

The decision will make Atlanta the largest U.S. metro area without a printed daily newspaper, although some smaller metro Atlanta newspapers continue printing.

Publisher Andrew Morse said in his Thursday announcement that the news organization will aim to expand its audience as it continues to report the news using online, audio and video products.

“The fact is, many more people engage with our digital platforms and products today than with our print edition, and that shift is only accelerating,” Morse wrote in a letter to subscribers posted on the Journal-Constitution’s website. The AJC has about 115,000 total subscribers, of whom 75,000 are online only; Morse has set a goal of gaining 500,000 online subscribers.

The newspaper is privately owned by descendants of the Cox family. Former Ohio Gov. James Cox bought The Atlanta Journal in 1939 and The Atlanta Constitution in 1950. The Atlanta Constitution was founded in 1868, only a few years after the Civil War left Atlanta in ruins. It became the platform of famous editors including New South booster Henry Grady and anti-segregationist Ralph McGill.

Morse said The Journal-

Constitution will offer a new mobile app by the end of the year and will provide an electronic replica edition for subscribers who prefer the experience of the paper edition.