The Atlanta Journal-Constitution traces its roots to 1868, the founding date of The Atlanta Constitution. The Atlanta Journal debuted in 1883. The papers have been under common ownership since 1950 and fully merged in 2001. The newspaper is owned by Cox Enterprises, a family-owned company that has been in Atlanta since 1939. While the newspaper is owned by a private company, its news decisions are made by the journalists in the AJC’s newsroom.
Our mission is to report what’s really going on in your community. We uncover the truth, protect the public’s right to know and hold community leaders accountable for serving the public. We document our region’s moments, milestones and people. Every day, we inform and empower our readers who value credible, in-depth journalism. By providing this important public service, we ultimately help to build a better metro Atlanta and Georgia for the next generation.
How We Work
- Our editors, reporters and photojournalists operate with highest ethical standards.
- We take great pains to assure that our reporting is accurate and promptly correct any errors of fact.
- Our journalists report independently and strive for fairness.
- They seek to balance various and conflicting points of view and eliminate partisan bias from their reporting.
- In print and online, the AJC reports the complete, accurate truth as best we can in clear and concise language.
- We treat people we write about fairly and openly. We work hard to avoid surprising anyone about what they may read about themselves in the AJC.
- We tread lightly into someone's personal life and reveal no more than is absolutely necessary.
- We don't pay sources for tips or story subjects for interviews. We don't trade favorable coverage for any consideration including access.
- Our journalists reveal their affiliation with the AJC when reporting.
The AJC focuses its reporting staff on local matters and closely monitors state and local governments, the local economy, entertainment and sports. Our journalists and editors pursue the stories that we believe are most important to you. We are fierce defenders of the First Amendment and open government. We strive to be transparent and want to be clear about where we get information used in our stories.
As a major regional newspaper, we include national and foreign news. We cover issues that matter locally through our bureau in Washington. For most nation and world coverage, we rely on our trusted news partners, such as the Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Our partners have well-established reporting and editing practices and we monitor offerings from these news services and select stories we believe meet our standards for accuracy, fairness and balance.
All decisions about what we report and where we display our journalistic content are made by journalists in the AJC’s newsroom.
