AJC @issue section to go bye-bye?
July 10, 2008 at 9:20 am by Ken Edelstein in NewsWord among Atlanta Journal-Constitution staffers is that the paper’s Sunday @issue section will be eliminated later this summer or early in the fall.
In an e-mail response to my questions, AJC Editor Julia Wallace insisted that no decisions have been made about a long-planned remake of the Sunday paper and suggested that I “ignore the rumors.”
“We’re in the middle of a thorough review of our Sunday newspaper,” Wallace said, adding that the AJC’s been seeking reader feedback on possible changes.
Several newsroom rank-and-file members are under the impression that the decision has been made, however. They say @issue — the Sunday op-ed-and-essay section — will shrink and be folded into another part of the paper as part of the much-vaunted “AJC 2.0″ project.
Rumors and anxiety have been flying among AJC rank-and-file since big cutbacks were announced last month at the Palm Beach Post, a sister Cox paper. Staff members say other cutback discussions in Atlanta have revolved around the Travel section and, of course, staffing.
When they’re finally announced, the AJC brass may frame the cuts as another move toward the paper’s growing website. But the bottom line is that the daily — like many other dailies (and frankly most of us in the print industry) — hasn’t figured out how to get enough revenue on the web to cover existing expenses. Combine the Internet effect with the bad economy, and you’ve got pretty tough times in the newspaper industry.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
This would be a shame. @Issue is the best section the AJC does (next to Buyer’s Edge, but that’s just me!) WTF?
July 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I agree w/you Sellout
August 24th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Dear Sir, I would like to ask you why you would bother printing a paper in the first place? A newspaper should be dedicated to the truth and honesty. The AJC has never done anything but publish garbage by so called journalist like Cynthia Tucker. If you want to make changes to your paper, try covering something that is actually important to this country. How about starting with a coulumn dedicated to Obama’s book “Dreams of My Father” What would happen if you told the people of Ga. what the Democratic nominee for President actually believed? What would dear Cynthia say about Obama’s pledge to always side with the Muslim’s in any disagreement with the U.S.? Or his blatant hatred for the white race? Of course she would say nothing because she shares the same views. Your paper is a disgrace to the industry, not to mention to the country that has allowed you to print the trash that you call news. Thanks for your time.