Until it came time to move, theAtlanta Constitution never realized how much junk it had around thehouse. There was a steamboat wheel in a tobacco-stained corner, astuffed mallard duck suspended uncertainly over the city desk, a signthat said: DON’T STARE AT THE EDITOR—YOUMAY BE CRAZY YOURSELF SOME DAY.
Last week, the Constitution moved, lock, stock & stuffed duck from itscluttered, turreted brick building to a new, $1,500,000, streamlined,aluminum-trimmed plant. The new building was, roughly, Georgia-shaped.To prepare the staff for the shock of a clean newsroom withwastebaskets and ash trays, a quiet memo was issued: “We are going tohave the desks dusted every night.”
Paper with a Purpose. Bouncy Editor Ralph (Waldo) Emerson McGill, aonetime sportwriter, had expanded the neglected sports section andhiked wages, and there was talk of changes to come. The Constitutionneeded them.
In the days of Editor Henry W. Grady, in the ’80s, the paper had been aSouthern New York Times, crusading to build a “new South.” As recentlyas 1931, it won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing municipal corruption. ButOwner Clark Ho well Sr. had been less concerned with crusades than withairing his conservative opinions, and the paper had gone on the skids.
Eight years ago, the Constitution muffed a chance to buy both the rivalJournal and Hearst’s Georgian and thus dominate the Atlanta area.Instead, James M. Cox grabbed them. By killing the Georgian and addingits circulation to the Journal’s, Cox made it a bigger (circ.231,000)—andmore aggressive—daily than the Constitution (now180,000).
Reporter with a Hope. In his efforts to catch up, Editor McGill hasworked hard to make a reputation as a “fighting Southern liberal” inthe Ku Klux Klan’s home town. In 1942, he was a big help in keepingGene Talmadge out of the Governor’s mansion and getting Ellis Arnallin.
McGill’s editorial page is often inconsistent and spotty, but it is themost widely read in Atlanta. His own folksy column outdraws every otherfeature in the paper. A better reporter than executive, McGill likes totravel (he has been overseas four times in five years) and cover bigstories himself, whether a Gone With the Wind premiere or the Nürnbergtrials. He now gets pretty much of a free hand from Publisher ClarkHowell Jr., and has real hope of building up the Constitution’sprestige to match its plant.