image. In 1868,
Carey Wentworth Styles, along with his joint venture partners James Anderson and (future Atlanta mayor)
William Hemphill purchased a small newspaper, the
Atlanta Daily Opinion which they renamed
The Constitution, as it was originally known, was first published on June 16, 1868. Its name changed to
The Atlanta Constitution in October 1869. In active competition with other Atlanta newspapers, Hemphill hired special trains (one engine and car) to deliver newspapers to the
Macon marketplace. The newspaper became such a force that by 1871 it had overwhelmed the
Daily Intelligencer, the only Atlanta paper to survive the
American Civil War. In August 1875, its name was changed to
The Atlanta Daily Constitution for two weeks, then to
The Constitution again for about a year. The
Constitution established one of the first radio broadcasting stations,
WGM, which began operating on March 17, 1922, two days after the debut of the ''Journal's'' WSB. However, WGM ceased operations after just over a year. Its equipment was donated to what was then known as
Georgia School of Technology, which used it to help launch WBBF (later WGST, now
WGKA AM 920) in January 1924. In late 1947, the
Constitution established radio station WCON (AM 550). Subsequently, it received approval to operate an FM station, WCON-FM 98.5 mHz, and a TV station, WCON-TV, on channel 2. But the 1950 merger with the
Journal required major adjustments. Contemporary
Federal Communications Commission "duopoly" regulations disallowed owning more than one AM, FM, or TV station in a given market, and the
Atlanta Journal already owned WSB AM 750 and WSB-FM 104.5, as well as WSB-TV on channel 8. WCON and the original WSB-FM were shut down to comply with the duopoly restrictions. The WCON-TV construction permit was canceled, and WSB-TV was allowed to move from channel 8 to channel 2. To standardize with its sister stations, WCON-FM's call letters were changed to WSB-FM.
Ralph McGill, editor for the
Constitution in the 1940s, was one of the few southern newspaper editors to support the
American Civil Rights Movement. Other noteworthy editors of
The Atlanta Constitution include
J. Reginald Murphy. "Reg" Murphy gained notoriety after being kidnapped in 1974. Murphy later moved to the West Coast and served as editor of the
San Francisco Examiner.
Celestine Sibley was an award-winning reporter, editor, and beloved columnist for the
Constitution from 1941 to 1999 and wrote 25 fiction and nonfiction books about Southern life. After her death, the
Georgia House of Representatives named its press gallery in her honor as a mark of affection and respect. From the 1970s until he died in 1994,
Lewis Grizzard was a popular humor columnist for the
Constitution. He portrayed Southern "
redneck" culture with a mixture of ridicule and respect.
The Constitution won numerous
Pulitzer Prizes. 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. (Patterson later left his post as editor over a dispute over an op-ed piece.) In 1960, Jack Nelson won the
Pulitzer Prize for local reporting by exposing abuses at
Milledgeville State Hospital for the mentally ill. The papers were published in independent editions even after newsrooms were combined in 1982. In 1988 the
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning went to the
Constitutions
Doug Marlette. Editorial cartoonist
Mike Luckovich received Pulitzer Prizes in 1995 and 2006.
Cynthia Tucker received a 2007
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. ==
The Atlanta Journal==