Newspaper Changes Include Investments
ATLANTA—With an eye toward shifting technology, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is investing $30 million to enhance its printing facility while also trimming 80 newsroom jobs and shedding some circulation territory.
The investment will go towards adding color towers on four of its TKS printing presses at the company’s Gwinnett County, GA, facility. The AJC plans to close its downtown Atlanta printing plant in two years. The moves are expected to help the paper offer more color pages and simplify the production process.
Another $12 million is being invested in a computer system that will bolster the classified advertising department.
The AJC has also decided to be stricter in its distribution of the printed product. Beginning next month, the print edition will no longer be available in Alabama, South Carolina, Florida and many parts of Georgia.
Publisher John Mellot notes that delivery to some distant spots costs as much as $5 per copy. The paper’s newsstand price is 50 cents.
Eighty staffers, who are at least 55 years old and have 10 or more years of experience, have been offered voluntary buyout packages.
