Andrew Morse had helped usher ABC, Bloomberg and CNN into the digital age. In January 2023, he turned his sights on Atlanta, with a $150 million plan to reinvent its leading daily newspaper.

In taking the reins of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Morse set an ambitious goal: to grow the number of digital subscribers from 53,000 to a half-million by the end of 2026. He laid out a new strategy, with new content and an infusion of new energy. The paper abandoned print at the end of last year to go all-in on digital innovation. The plan so far has achieved modest results: 101,000 digital subscribers.

Morse acknowledges falling short, but says the paper ultimately will reach what he calls its "North Star." Morse won't be there when it happens. After nearly three and a half years, he says it's time for him to step aside.

"We have been on a great journey with the AJC ... trying to transform a really proud, storied daily newspaper into a modern media company," Morse tells NPR. "The decision for me is really bittersweet."

Morse says family concerns drove his choice: "I've been living in Atlanta for three years, but my family lives in New York, so I've been commuting. I needed to make a difficult personal decision to make a change."

He will be replaced by Paul Curran, a senior advertising executive with Cox Media, a joint venture in which the newspaper's parent company retains a large minority stake, the company said. The appointment takes full effect June 29.

A closely watched experiment

Morse's effort has been closely watched as legacy newspapers come under increasing financial stress and undergo vast consolidation. The major players have expanded their holdings; Corporate owners Gannett and Lee Enterprises, and private equity funds Alden Global Capital and Chatham Asset Management are among those that have relentlessly cut costs at papers across the country.

Block Communications had announced it would permanently shut down the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 3; the paper enjoyed a last-minute reprieve, sold last month to the nonprofit institute that created the online Baltimore Banner. But the local news guild says that the new owners have cut 40% of the newsroom, including the vast majority of those who served as union organizers during an extended labor dispute.

Cox Enterprises, the Journal-Constitution's parent company, says it remains 100% committed to the paper's mission of providing high-quality journalism for Atlanta and the South.

The company is controlled by the Cox family, owners of the Journal since 1939 and the Constitution since 1950. (They were fully merged in 2001.) Cox sold off all their other papers, then bought back the Dayton Daily News and two other Ohio papers. Alex Taylor, Cox Enterprises' CEO and chairman, is the great-grandson of Ohio Gov. James Cox, who founded the company in 1898.

The Journal-Constitution has been losing money for years. But before joining the AJC, as it's known, Morse convinced the Cox family of the paper's continued potential and the need to invest serious money to set it on a path to sustainability. The family has the reserves to subsidize their hometown paper: it earned billions from investments in cable television systems, broadband internet, car sales, and other ventures.

Morse, who had spent significant time in Atlanta during his years with CNN, had been the architect of the cable network's digital strategy and the brief-lived CNN+, which was killed off shortly after its launch by new corporate owners. Morse left soon after.

CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson this year started a new digital platform built around insights related to Morse's plans for the network's digital strategy.

Under Morse's leadership, the Journal-Constitution renewed its earlier interest in matters beyond the metro region, establishing a greater presence in other Georgia cities where daily journalism had declined or withered. It distributed its printed copies in those cities to market the return of the AJC.

He has been an ebullient champion of the paper and new forms for its journalism. The paper has scrapped geographic-based beats for subject coverage beyond local county borders. It has also invested in creating newsletters, podcasts and social media posts alongside more traditional reporting teams. More than half of the AJC's 320 staffers are part of its newsroom, Morse says. And their efforts have been recognized, most recently with its first Peabody award, for social media video coverage of ICE efforts in Georgia.

Shereta Williams, the executive vice president of growth operations at Cox Enterprises, tells NPR that the AJC had been behind the curve in seeking a digital path. Morse changed all that, she says.

"We were primarily still operating as a print newspaper when he got there," Williams says.

"It's the transformation of the team, how we operate, and reinvigorating the brand," Williams said. "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?' And we are doing it across divisions."

She says she doesn't know how soon the paper will attain financial sustainability. "It'll take us another few years, but we see it within sight," she says. "We are on a path to growth. It was difficult to find a path to growth with print."

The largest U.S. city without a major printed newspaper

Atlanta is now the largest metro region in the country without a major printed newspaper.

Over the course of last year, the paper planned a historic pivot. Then, on January 1, it dispensed with its print edition altogether, Atlanta is now the largest metro region in the country without a major printed newspaper. (The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., a larger paper, ceased publication of print editions in February 2025, along with sister papers in Jersey City and Trenton. Their owners, Advance Communications, maintain a sizable combined newsroom at NJ.com.)

"It was a big gamble for Cox," says industry analyst Ken Doctor, who has recently set up digital news startups in Santa Cruz, Calif., and Eugene, Ore. "It points to the possibility of a significant failure. And understanding it is really important for them."

That said, Doctor says he is not writing off the AJC's chances, or even Morse's approach.

"It could be that it's a good strategy, but it's going to take more time for it to work."

On that, at least, Morse agrees.

"We set a very ambitious goal," Morse says. "It's still very achievable based on the size of this market and the pace of our growth. What's changed is the timing."

Morse says it took more effort than expected to build up the leadership team and analytical tools to turn goals into strategies and strategies into success.

He also points to social media platforms' turning away from promoting news, and the explosive use of AI platforms to find information. Both have led to sharp drops in referrals to news websites. The phenomenon is called "Google Zero" — as in, Google is prompting close to zero users to click links to the original reporting.

"There's a long way to go," Morse says. "The verdict isn't in. But we'll get there."