ATLANTA — Andrew Morse will step down as publisher and president of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in June 2026. Paul Curran will succeed him on June 29, 2026.

Morse took over the newspaper in January 2023 and launched a $150 million plan to reinvent the publication, with a goal of growing digital subscriptions from 53,000 to 500,000 by the end of 2026. As of May 2026, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had 101,000 paying digital subscribers.

"We set a very ambitious goal. It's still very achievable based on the size of this market and the pace of our growth," Morse said, adding that the target would take more time to reach.

At the end of 2025, the AJC ended its print edition and became a digital-only newspaper. Atlanta is now the largest metro region in the United States without a major printed newspaper. The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, ceased publication of its print editions in February 2025, along with its sister papers in Jersey City and Trenton, while Advance Communications maintains a sizable combined newsroom at NJ.com.

Under Morse's leadership, the newspaper established a greater presence in Georgia cities outside metro Atlanta where daily journalism had declined, distributing printed copies in those cities to promote the return of the newspaper. The organization replaced geographic-based beats with subject-based coverage spanning beyond county borders and invested in newsletters, podcasts, and social media content alongside its traditional reporting teams. The newspaper has 320 staffers, more than half of whom are newsroom employees, and won its first Peabody award for social media video coverage of ICE efforts in Georgia.

"We were primarily still operating as a print newspaper when he got there," said Shereta Williams, executive vice president of growth operations at Cox Enterprises. "It's the transformation of the team, how we operate, and reinvigorating the brand. The entire organization understands what it means to be a digital-first operation. It is now focused on 'How do we grow as fast as possible?'"

The AJC has been losing money for years. Cox Enterprises, which is controlled by the Cox family, has owned the Atlanta Journal since 1939 and the Constitution since 1950; the papers were fully merged in 2001. Before joining the newspaper, Morse had helped ABC, Bloomberg, and CNN develop digital strategies, and was the architect of CNN's digital strategy and the streaming service CNN+, which was shut down shortly after launch by its new corporate owners. He left CNN shortly afterward.