The Guardian

For other uses, seeThe Guardian (disambiguation).

The Guardian

Front page on 28 May 2021
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet(1821–2005) Berliner(2005–2018) Compact(since 2018)
Owner(s)	Guardian Media Group
Founder(s)	John Edward Taylor
Publisher	Guardian Media Group
Editor-in-chief	Katharine Viner
Founded	5 May 1821(1821-05-05)(asThe Manchester Guardian,renamedThe Guardianin 1959)
Political alignment	Centre-left
Language	English
Headquarters	Kings Place,London
Country	United Kingdom
Circulation	105,134 (as of July 2021)
Sister newspapers	The Observer The Guardian Weekly
ISSN	0261-3077(print) 1756-3224(web)
OCLCnumber	60623878
Website	theguardian
Media of the United Kingdom List of newspapers

The Guardianis a British dailynewspaper.It was founded in 1821 asThe Manchester Guardian,before it changed its name in 1959.Along with its sister papers,The ObserverandThe Guardian Weekly,The Guardianis part of theGuardian Media Group,owned by theScott Trust Limited.The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence ofThe Guardianin perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values ofThe Guardianfree from commercial or political interference ".The trust was converted into alimited companyin 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain forThe Guardianthe same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners orshareholders.It is considered anewspaper of recordin the UK.

The editor-in-chiefKatharine VinersucceededAlan Rusbridgerin 2015.Since 2018, the paper's main newsprint sections have been published intabloid format.As of July 2021,its print edition had a daily circulation of 105,134.The newspaper has an online edition,TheGuardian,as well as three international websites,Guardian Australia(founded in 2013)Guardian New Zealand(founded in 2019) andGuardian US(founded in 2011). The paper's readership is generally on themainstream leftof British political opinion,and the term "Guardianreader "is used to imply a stereotype of a person withliberal,left-wing or "politically correct"views.Frequenttypographical errorsduring the age ofmanual typesettingledPrivate Eyemagazine to dub the paper the "Grauniad" in the 1970s, a nickname still occasionally used by the editors for self-mockery.

In anIpsos MORIresearch poll in September 2018 designed to interrogate the public's trust of specific titles online,The Guardianscored highest for digital-content news, with 84% of readers agreeing that they "trust what [they] see in it".A December 2018 report of a poll by the Publishers Audience Measurement Company stated that the paper's print edition was found to be the most trusted in the UK in the period from October 2017 to September 2018. It was also reported to be the most-read of the UK's "quality newsbrands", including digital editions; other "quality" brands includedThe Times,The Daily Telegraph,The Independent,and thei.WhileThe Guardian's print circulation is in decline, the report indicated that news fromThe Guardian,including that reported online, reaches more than 23 million UK adults each month.

Chief among the notable "scoops"obtained by the paper was the 2011News International phone-hacking scandal—and in particular the hacking of the murdered English teenagerMilly Dowler's phone.The investigation led to the closure of theNews of the World,the UK's best-selling Sunday newspaper and one of the highest-circulation newspapers in history.In June 2013,The Guardianbroke news of the secret collection by theObama administrationofVerizontelephone records,and subsequently revealed the existence of the surveillance programPRISMafter knowledge of it was leaked to the paper by thewhistleblowerand formerNational Security AgencycontractorEdward Snowden.In 2016,The Guardianled an investigation into thePanama Papers,exposing then–Prime MinisterDavid Cameron's links tooffshore bank accounts.It has been named "newspaper of the year" four times at the annualBritish Press Awards:most recently in 2014, for its reporting on government surveillance.

History

1821 to 1972

Early years

Manchester GuardianProspectus, 1821

The Manchester Guardianwas founded inManchesterin 1821 by cotton merchantJohn Edward Taylorwith backing from theLittle Circle,a group ofnon-conformistbusinessmen.They launched the paper, on 5 May 1821 (by chance the very day ofNapoleon'sdeath) after the police closure of the moreradicalManchester Observer,a paper that had championed the cause of thePeterloo Massacreprotesters.Taylor had been hostile to the radical reformers, writing: "They have appealed not to the reason but the passions and the suffering of their abused and credulous fellow-countrymen, from whose ill-requited industry they extort for themselves the means of a plentiful and comfortable existence. They do not toil, neither do they spin, but they live better than those that do."When the government closed down theManchester Observer,the mill-owners' champions had the upper hand.

The influential journalistJeremiah Garnettjoined Taylor during the establishment of the paper, and all of the Little Circle wrote articles for the new paper.The prospectus announcing the new publication proclaimed that it would "zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty... warmly advocate the cause of Reform... endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy and... support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, all serviceable measures".In 1825, the paper merged with theBritish Volunteerand was known asThe Manchester Guardian and British Volunteeruntil 1828.

Theworking-classManchester and Salford AdvertisercalledThe Manchester Guardian"the foul prostitute and dirtyparasiteof the worst portion of the mill-owners ".The Manchester Guardianwas generally hostile to labour's claims. Of the 1832 Ten Hours Bill, the paper doubted whether in view of the foreign competition "the passing of a law positively enacting a gradual destruction of the cotton manufacture in this kingdom would be a much less rational procedure."The Manchester Guardiandismissed strikes as the work of outside agitators, stating that "if an accommodation can be effected, the occupation of the agents of the Union is gone. They live on strife...."

In March 2023, an academic review commissioned by theScott Trustdetermined that John Edward Taylor and nine of his eleven backers had links to theAtlantic slave tradethrough their interests in Manchester's textile industry.

Slavery and the American Civil War

The newspaper opposed slavery and supportedfree trade.An 1823 leading article on the continuing "cruelty and injustice" to slaves in theWest Indieslong after the abolition of the slave trade with theSlave Trade Act 1807wanted fairness to the interests and claims both of the planters and of their oppressed slaves.It welcomed theSlavery Abolition Act 1833and accepted the "increased compensation" to the planters as the "guilt of slavery attaches far more to the nation" rather than individuals. Success of the Act would encourage emancipation in other slave-owning nations to avoid "imminent risk of a violent and bloody termination."However, the newspaper argued against restricting trade with countries that had not yet abolished slavery.

Complex tensions developed in the United States.When the abolitionistGeorge Thompsontoured, the newspaper said that "[s]lavery is a monstrous evil, but civil war is not a less one; and we would not seek the abolition even of the former through the imminent hazard of the latter". It suggested that the United States should compensate slave-owners for freeing slavesand called on PresidentFranklin Pierceto resolve the 1856 "civil war", theSacking of Lawrencedue to pro-slavery laws imposed by Congress.

In 1860,The Observerquoted a report that the newly elected presidentAbraham Lincolnwas opposed to abolition of slavery.On 13 May 1861, shortly after the start of theAmerican Civil War,theManchester Guardianportrayed the Northern states as primarily imposing a burdensome trade monopoly on theConfederate States,arguing that if the South was freed to have direct trade with Europe, "the day would not be distant when slavery itself would cease". Therefore, the newspaper asked "Why should the South be prevented from freeing itself from slavery?"This hopeful view was also held by theLiberalleaderWilliam Ewart Gladstone.

Statue ofAbraham LincolninManchester,with extracts from the working men's letter and his reply on its base

There was division in Britain over the Civil War, even within political parties. TheManchester Guardianhad also been conflicted. It had supported otherindependence movementsand felt it should also support the rights of the Confederacy to self-determination. It criticised Lincoln'sEmancipation Proclamationfor not freeing all American slaves.On 10 October 1862, it wrote: "It is impossible to cast any reflections upon a man so evidently sincere and well-intentioned as Mr Lincoln but it is also impossible not to feel that it was an evil day both for America and the world, when he was chosen President of the United States".By then, theUnion blockadewas causingsuffering in British towns.Some includingLiverpoolsupported the Confederacy as did "current opinion in all classes" in London. On 31 December 1862, cotton workers held a meeting at theFree Trade Hallin Manchester which resolved "its detestation of negro slavery in America, and of the attempt of the rebellious Southern slave-holders to organise on the great American continent a nation having slavery as its basis". There was a comment that "an effort had been made in a leading article of theManchester Guardianto deter the working men from assembling together for such a purpose ". The newspaper reported all this and published their letter to President Lincolnwhile complaining that "the chief occupation, if not the chief object of the meeting, seems to have been to abuse theManchester Guardian".Lincoln replied to the letter thanking the workers for their "sublime Christian heroism" and American ships delivered relief supplies to Britain.

The newspaper reported the shock to the community of theassassination of Abraham Lincolnin 1865, concluding that "[t]he parting of his family with the dying President is too sad for description",but in what from today's perspective looks an ill-judged editorial wrote that "[o]f his rule we can never speak except as a series of acts abhorrent to every true notion of constitutional right and human liberty", adding: "it is doubtless to be regretted that he had not the opportunity of vindicating his good intentions".

According toMartin Kettle,writing forThe Guardianin February 2011: "The Guardianhad always hated slavery. But it doubted the Union hated slavery to the same degree. It argued that the Union had always tacitly condoned slavery by shielding the southern slave states from the condemnation they deserved. It was critical of Lincoln's emancipation proclamation for stopping short of a full repudiation of slavery throughout the US. And it chastised the president for being so willing to negotiate with the south, with slavery one of the issues still on the table. "

C. P. Scott

C. P. Scottmade the newspaper nationally recognised. He was editor for 57 years from 1872, and became its owner when he bought the paper from the estate of Taylor's son in 1907. Under Scott, the paper's moderate editorial line became more radical, supportingWilliam Gladstonewhen the Liberals split in 1886, and opposing theSecond Boer Waragainst popular opinion.Scott supported the movement forwomen's suffrage,but was critical of any tactics by theSuffragettesthat involveddirect action:"The really ludicrous position is thatMr Lloyd Georgeis fighting to enfranchise seven million women and the militants are smashing unoffending people's windows and breaking up benevolent societies' meetings in a desperate effort to prevent him. "Scott thought the Suffragettes'" courage and devotion "was" worthy of a better cause and saner leadership ".It has been argued that Scott's criticism reflected a widespread disdain, at the time, for those women who "transgressed the gender expectations ofEdwardian society".

Scott commissionedJ. M. Syngeand his friendJack Yeatsto produce articles and drawings documenting the social conditions of the west of Ireland; these pieces were published in 1911 in the collectionTravels in Wicklow, West Kerry and Connemara.

Scott's friendship withChaim Weizmannplayed a role in theBalfour Declaration.In 1948The Manchester Guardianwas a supporter of the new State of Israel.

Ownership of the paper passed in June 1936 to theScott Trust(named after the last owner,John Russell Scott,who was the first chairman of the Trust). This move ensured the paper's independence.

From 1930 to 1967, a special archival copy of all the daily newspapers was preserved in 700zinccases. These were found in 1988 whilst the newspaper's archives were deposited at theUniversity of Manchester'sJohn Rylands University Library,on the Oxford Road campus. The first case was opened and found to contain the newspapers issued in August 1930 in pristine condition. The zinc cases had been made each month by the newspaper's plumber and stored for posterity. The other 699 cases were not opened and were all returned to storage atThe Guardian's garage, owing to shortage of space at the library.

Spanish Civil War

Traditionally affiliated with the centrist to centre-leftLiberal Party,and with a northern, non-conformist circulation base, the paper earned a national reputation and the respect of the left during theSpanish Civil War(1936–1939).George Orwellwrote inHomage to Catalonia(1938): "Of our larger papers, theManchester Guardianis the only one that leaves me with an increased respect for its honesty ".With the pro-LiberalNews Chronicle,theLabour-supportingDaily Herald,theCommunist Party'sDaily Workerand several Sunday and weekly papers, it supported the Republican government against GeneralFrancisco Franco's insurgent nationalists.

Post-war

The paper's then editor,A. P. Wadsworth,so loathed Labour's left-wing championAneurin Bevan,who had made a reference to getting rid of "Tory Vermin" in a speech "and the hate-gospellers of his entourage" that it encouraged readers to vote Conservative in the1951 general electionand removeClement Attlee'spost-war Labour government.

The Manchester Guardianstrongly opposed military intervention during the 1956Suez Crisis:"The Anglo-French ultimatum to Egypt is an act of folly, without justification in any terms but brief expediency. It pours petrol on a growing fire. There is no knowing what kind of explosion will follow."

On 24 August 1959,The Manchester Guardianchanged its name toThe Guardian.This change reflected the growing prominence of national and international affairs in the newspaper.In September 1961,The Guardian,which had previously only been published inManchester,began to be printed in London. Nesta Robertswas appointed as the newspaper's first news editor there, becoming the first woman to hold such a position on a British national newspaper.

1972 to 2000

The Troubles

During the early period ofthe Troubles,The Guardiansupported British state intervention to quell disturbances betweenIrish CatholicsandUlster loyalistsinNorthern Ireland.After theBattle of the Bogsidebetween Catholic residents ofDerryand theRoyal Ulster Constabulary(RUC),The Guardiancalled for theBritish Armed Forcesto be deployed to the region, arguing that their deployment would "present a more disinterested face of law and order" than the RUC. "

On 30 January 1972, troops from the1st Battalion, Parachute Regimentopened fire on aNorthern Ireland Civil Rights Associationmarch, killing fourteen people in an event that would come to be known asBloody Sunday.In response to the incident,The Guardianargued that "Neither side can escape condemnation... The organizers of the demonstration, MissBernadette Devlinamong them, deliberately challenged the ban on marches. They knew that stone throwing and sniping could not be prevented, and that theIRAmightuse the crowd as a shield."The Guardianfurther stated that "It is certainly true that the army cordons had endured a wanton barrage of stones, steel bars, and other missiles. That still does not justify opening fire so freely."

After the events of Bloody Sunday,John Widgery, Baron Widgerywas appointed the head of a tribunal to investigate the killings. The resulting tribunal, known as theWidgery Tribunal,largely exonerated the actions of the soldiers involved in the incident.The Guardianpublished an article on 20 April 1972 which supported the tribunal and its findings, arguing that "Widgery's report is not one-sided".In response to the introduction ofinternmentwithout trial in Northern Ireland,The Guardianargued that "Internment without trial is hateful, repressive and undemocratic. In the existing Irish situation, most regrettably, it is also inevitable... To remove the ringleaders, in the hope that the atmosphere might calm down, is a step to which there is no obvious alternative."

Sarah Tisdall

In 1983, the paper was at the centre of a controversy surrounding documents regarding the stationing ofcruise missilesin Britain that were leaked toThe Guardianby civil servantSarah Tisdall.The paper eventually complied with a court order to hand over the documents to the authorities, which resulted in a six-month prison sentence for Tisdall,though she served only four. "I still blame myself", saidPeter Preston,who was the editor ofThe Guardianat the time, but he went on to argue that the paper had no choice because it "believed in the rule of law".In a 2019 article discussingJulian Assangeand the protection of sources by journalists,John Pilgercriticised the editor ofThe Guardianfor betraying Tisdall by choosing not to go to prison "on a fundamental principle of protecting a source".

Alleged penetration by Russian intelligence

In 1994,KGBdefectorOleg GordievskyidentifiedGuardianliterary editorRichard Gottas "an agent of influence". While Gott denied that he received cash, he admitted he had had lunch at the Soviet Embassy and had taken benefits from the KGB on overseas visits. Gott resigned from his post.

Gordievsky commented on the newspaper: "The KGB lovedThe Guardian.It was deemed highly susceptible to penetration. "

Jonathan Aitken

In 1995, both theGranada TelevisionprogrammeWorld in ActionandThe Guardianwere sued forlibelby the then cabinet ministerJonathan Aitken,for their allegation thatHarrodsownerMohamed Al Fayedhad paid for Aitken and his wife to stay at theHôtel Ritzin Paris, which would have amounted to accepting a bribe on Aitken's part. Aitken publicly stated that he would fight with "the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play".The court case proceeded, and in 1997The Guardianproduced evidence that Aitken's claim of his wife paying for the hotel stay was untrue.In 1999, Aitken was jailed forperjuryandperverting the course of justice.

Connection

In May 1998, a series ofGuardianinvestigations exposed the wholesale fabrication of a much-garlanded ITV documentaryThe Connection,produced byCarlton Television.

The documentary purported to film an undiscovered route by which heroin was smuggled into the United Kingdom from Colombia. An internal inquiry at Carlton found thatThe Guardian's allegations were in large part correct and the then industry regulator, the ITC, punished Carlton with a record £2 million finefor multiple breaches of the UK's broadcasting codes. The scandal led to an impassioned debate about the accuracy of documentary production.

Later in June 1998,The Guardianrevealed further fabrications in another Carlton documentary from the same director.

Kosovo War

The paper supportedNATO's military intervention in theKosovo Warin 1998–1999.The Guardianstated that "the only honourable course for Europe and America is to use military force".Mary Kaldor's piece was headlined "Bombs away! But to save civilians, we must get in some soldiers too."

Since 2000

The Guardiansenior news writer Esther Addley interviewing Ecuadorian foreign ministerRicardo Patiñofor an article relating toJulian Assangein 2014

In the early 2000s,The Guardianchallenged theAct of Settlement 1701and theTreason Felony Act 1848.In October 2004,The Guardianpublished a humorous column byCharlie Brookerin its entertainment guide, the final sentence of which was viewed by some as a call for violence against U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush;after a controversy, Brooker and the paper issued an apology, saying the "closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action".Following the7 July 2005 London bombings,The Guardianpublished an article on its comment pages byDilpazier Aslam,a 27-year-old British Muslim and journalism trainee fromYorkshire.Aslam was a member ofHizb ut-Tahrir,anIslamistgroup, and had published a number of articles on their website. According to the newspaper, it did not know that Aslam was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir when he applied to become a trainee, though several staff members were informed of this once he started at the paper.TheHome Officesaid that the group's "ultimate aim is the establishment of an Islamic state (Caliphate), according to Hizb ut-Tahrir via non-violent means".The Guardianasked Aslam to resign his membership of the group and, when he did not do so, terminated his employment.

In early 2009,The Guardianstarted a tax investigation into a number of major UK companies,including publishing a database of the tax paid by theFTSE 100companies.Internal documents relating toBarclays Bank'stax avoidancewere removed fromThe Guardianwebsite after Barclays obtained agagging order.The newspaper played a pivotal role in exposing the depth of theNews of the Worldphone hacking affair.The Economist'sIntelligent Lifemagazine opined that:

AsWatergateis to theWashington Post,andthalidomideto theSunday Times,sophone-hackingwill surely be toThe Guardian:a defining moment in its history.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict coverage

In recent decades,The Guardianhas been accused of biasedcriticism of Israeli government policyand of bias against the Palestinians.In December 2003, columnistJulie Burchillcited "striking bias against the state of Israel" as one of the reasons she left the paper forThe Times.

Responding to these accusations, aGuardianeditorial in 2002 condemned antisemitism and defended the paper's right to criticise the policies and actions of the Israeli government, arguing that those who view such criticism as inherently anti-Jewish are mistaken.Harriet Sherwood, thenThe Guardian'sforeign editor, later its Jerusalem correspondent, has also denied thatThe Guardianhas an anti-Israel bias, saying that the paper aims to cover all viewpoints in theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict.

On 6 November 2011, Chris Elliott,The Guardian's readers' editor, wrote that "Guardianreporters, writers and editors must be more vigilant about the language they use when writing about Jews or Israel ", citing recent cases whereThe Guardianreceived complaints regarding language chosen to describe Jews or Israel. Elliott noted that, over nine months, he upheld complaints regarding language in certain articles that were seen as anti-Semitic, revising the language and footnoting this change.

The Guardian's style guide section referred toTel Avivas the capital of Israel in 2012. In 2012, media watchdogHonestReportingfiled a complaint with thePress Complaints Commission(PCC) afterThe Guardianran a correction apologizing for "wrongly" having called Jerusalem as Israel's capital. After an initial ruling supportingThe Guardian,the PCC retracted its original ruling, leading to the newspaper's acknowledgement that it was wrong to call Tel Aviv Israel's capital.The Guardianlater clarified: "In 1980, the Israeli Knesset enacted a law designating the city of Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem, as the country's capital. In response, the UN security council issued resolution 478, censuring the" change in character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem "and calling on all member states with diplomatic missions in the city to withdraw. The UN has reaffirmed this position on several occasions, and almost every country now has its embassy in Tel Aviv. While it was therefore right to issue a correction to make clear Israel's designation of Jerusalem as its capital is not recognised by the international community, we accept that it is wrong to state that Tel Aviv – the country's financial and diplomatic centre – is the capital. The style guide has been amended accordingly."

On 11 August 2014 the print edition ofThe Guardianpublished a pro-Israeli advocacy advert during the2014 Israel–Gaza conflictfeaturingElie Wiesel,headed by the words "Jews rejected child sacrifice 3,500 years ago. Now it's Hamas' turn."The Timeshad decided against running the ad, although it had already appeared in major American newspapers.One week later, Chris Elliott expressed the opinion that the newspaper should have rejected the language used in the advert and should have negotiated with the advertiser on this matter.

In October 2023,The Guardianstated it would not renew the contract of cartoonistSteve Bellafter he submitted a cartoon featuring Netanyahu, with his shirt open, wearing bo xing gloves and holding a scalpel over a dotted shape of theGaza Stripon his stomach. The caption read: "Residents of Gaza, get out now." Due to what has been seen by some as a reference to Shakespeare'sShylock's "pound of flesh", it prompted accusations that it was antisemitic.Bell said that he was inspired by the 1960s "Johnson's Scar" cartoon byDavid Levineof U.S. presidentLyndon B Johnsonwithin the context of theVietnam War.

Clark County

In August 2004, for theUS presidential election,the dailyG2supplement launched an experimental letter-writing campaign inClark County, Ohio,an average-sized county in aswing state.EditorIan Katzbought a voter list from the county for $25 and asked readers to write to people listed as undecided in the election, giving them an impression of the international view and the importance of voting against President George W. Bush.Katz admitted later that he did not believe Democrats who warned that the campaign would benefit Bush and not opponentJohn Kerry.The newspaper scrapped "Operation Clark County" on 21 October 2004 after first publishing a column of responses—nearly all of them outraged—to the campaign under the headline "Dear Limey assholes".Some commentators suggested that the public's dislike of the campaign contributed to Bush's victory in Clark County.

Guardian AmericaandGuardian US

In 2007, the paper launchedGuardian America,an attempt to capitalise on its large online readership in the United States, which at the time stood at more than 5.9 million. The company hired formerAmerican Prospecteditor,New Yorkmagazine columnist andNew York Review of BookswriterMichael Tomaskyto head the project and hire a staff of American reporters and web editors. The site featured news fromThe Guardianthat was relevant to an American audience: coverage of US news and the Middle East, for example.

Tomasky stepped down from his position as editor ofGuardian Americain February 2009, ceding editing and planning duties to other US and London staff. He retained his position as a columnist and blogger, taking the title editor-at-large.

In October 2009, the company abandoned theGuardian Americahomepage, instead directing users to a US news index page on the mainGuardianwebsite.The following month, the company laid off six American employees, including a reporter, a multimedia producer and four web editors. The move came asGuardian News and Mediaopted to reconsider its US strategy amid a huge effort to cut costs across the company.In subsequent years, however,The Guardianhas hired various commentators on US affairs includingAna Marie Cox,Michael Wolff,Naomi Wolf,Glenn Greenwaldand George W. Bush's former speechwriterJosh Treviño.Treviño's first blog post was an apology for a controversial tweet posted in June 2011 over the second Gaza flotilla, the controversy which had been revived by the appointment.

Guardian USlaunched in September 2011, led by editor-in-chiefJanine Gibson,which replaced the previousGuardian Americaservice.After a period during whichKatharine Vinerserved as the US editor-in-chief before taking charge ofGuardian News and Mediaas a whole, Viner's former deputy, Lee Glendinning, was appointed to succeed her as head of the American operation at the beginning of June 2015.

Gagged from reporting Parliament

In October 2009,The Guardianreported that it was forbidden to report on a parliamentary matter – a question recorded in a Commons order paper, to be answered by a minister later that week.The newspaper noted that it was being "forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented—for the first time in memory—from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret. The only factThe Guardiancan report is that the case involves the London solicitorsCarter-Ruck."The paper further claimed that this case appears" to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the1689 Bill of Rights".

The only parliamentary question mentioning Carter-Ruck in the relevant period was byPaul FarrellyMP, in reference to legal action byBarclaysandTrafigura.The part of the question referencing Carter-Ruck relates to the latter company's September 2009 gagging order on the publication of a 2006 internal reportinto the2006 Côte d'Ivoire toxic waste dumpscandal, which involved aclass actioncase that the company only settled in September 2009 afterThe Guardianpublished some of the commodity trader's internal emails.The reporting injunction was lifted the next day, as Carter-Ruck withdrew it beforeThe Guardiancould challenge it in the High Court.Alan Rusbridgerattributed the rapid back-down by Carter-Ruck to postings onTwitter,as did aBBC News Onlinearticle.

Edward Snowden leaks and intervention by the UK government

In June 2013, the newspaper broke news of the secret collection ofVerizontelephone records held byBarack Obama's administrationand subsequently revealed the existence of thePRISM surveillance programafter it was leaked to the paper by formerNSAcontractorEdward Snowden.The Guardiansaid aDSMA-Noticehad been sent to editors and journalists on 7 June after the firstGuardianstory about the Snowden documents. It said the DSMA-Notice was being used as an "attempt to censor coverage of surveillance tactics employed by intelligence agencies in the UK and US".

The newspaper was subsequently contacted by the British government's Cabinet Secretary, SirJeremy Heywood,under instruction from Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg,who ordered that the hard drives containing the information be destroyed.The Guardian'soffices were then visited in July by agents from the UK'sGCHQ,who supervised the destruction of the hard drives containing information acquired from Snowden.The Guardiansaid it had destroyed the hard drives to avoid threatened legal action by the UK government that could have stopped it from reporting on US and British government surveillance contained in the documents.In June 2014,The Registerreported that the information the government sought to suppress by destroying the hard drives related to the location of a "beyond top secret" internet monitoring base inSeeb,Oman, and the close involvement ofBTandCable & Wirelessin intercepting internet communications.Julian Assangecriticised the newspaper for not publishing the entirety of the content when it had the chance.Rusbridger had initially covered the Snowden documents without the government's supervision, but subsequently sought it, and established an ongoing relationship with theDefence Ministry.The Guardiancoverage of Snowden later continued because the information had already been copied outside the United Kingdom, earning the company's US website,The Guardian US,anAmerican Pulitzer Prize for Public Servicein 2014.Rusbridger and subsequent chief editors would sit on the government'sDSMA-noticeboard.

Treatment of Julian Assange

The Guardianpublished theUS diplomatic cables filesand theGuantanamo Bay filesin collaboration withJulian AssangeandWikiLeaks.When some of the diplomatic cables were made available online in unredacted form, WikiLeaks blamedGuardianjournalistsDavid LeighandLuke Hardingfor publishing the encryption key to the files in their bookWikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy.The Guardianblamed Assange for the release of the unredacted cables.

JournalistGlenn Greenwald,a former contributor toThe Guardian,accusedThe Guardianof publishing false claims about Assange in a report about an interview Assange gave to Italian newspaperLa Repubblica.The Guardianarticle had claimed that Assange had praisedDonald Trumpand criticisedHillary Clintonand also alleged that Assange had "long had a close relationship with the Putin regime". Greenwald wrote: "This article is about how those [Guardian's] false claims—fabrications, really—were spread all over the internet by journalists, causing hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) to consume false news ".The Guardianlater amended its article about Assange to remove the claim about his connection to the Russian government.While Assange was in the Ecuadorian embassy,The Guardianpublished a number of articles pushing the narrative that there was a link between Assange and the Russian government.

In a November 2018Guardianarticle,Luke Hardingand Dan Collyns cited anonymous sources which stated thatDonald Trump's former campaign managerPaul Manafortheld secret meetings withWikiLeaksfounderJulian Assangeinside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2013, 2015, and 2016.The name of a third author,Fernando Villavicencio,was removed from the online version of the story soon after publication. The title of the story was originally 'Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy'. A few hours after publication, 'sources say' was added to the title, and the meeting became an 'apparent meeting'.One reporter characterised the story, "If it's right, it might be the biggest get this year. If it's wrong, it might be the biggest gaffe." Manafort and Assange both said they had never met, with the latter threatening legal action againstThe Guardian.Ecuador's London consul Fidel Narváez, who had worked atEcuador's embassy in Londonfrom 2010 to July 2018, said that Manafort had not visited Assange.Serge Halimisaid Harding had a personal grievance against Assange and noted that Manafort's name does not appear in the Ecuadorian embassy's visitors' book and there were no pictures of Manafort entering or leaving "one of the most surveilled and filmed buildings on the planet". The Guardianhas neither retracted nor apologised for the story about the meeting. Stella Moris, Assange's wife, saidThe Guardianfailed in its responsibility to Assange and its "negligence has created such a problem that if Julian dies or is extradited, that will forever blot the reputation of theGuardian".

Priti Patel cartoon

The Guardianwas accused of being "racist and misogynistic" after it published a cartoon depictingHome Secretary,Priti Patelas a cow with a ring in its nose in an alleged reference to herHindufaith, since cows are considered sacred inHinduism.

Alleged WhatsApp backdoor

After publishing a story on 13 January 2017 claiming thatWhatsApphad a "backdoor [that] allows snooping on messages", more than 70 professional cryptographers signed on to an open letter calling forThe Guardianto retract the article.On 13 June 2017, readers' editor Paul Chadwick released an article detailing the flawed reporting in the original January article, which was amended to remove references to a backdoor.

Spanish-language edition

In January 2021,The Guardianbegan publishing in theSpanish languageunder theLa Listanewspaper.

Suella Braverman comments

In October 2022,Suella Bravermanspeaking in Parliament blamed "Guardian-reading,tofu-eatingwokerati"for disruptiveJust Stop Oilprotests.

2022 Cyber attack

In December 2022 it was reported that theGuardianhad suffered a significant cyber-attack on its office systems, thought to be ransomware.Staff were directed to work from home and were able to continue publishing to the website despite the loss of some internal systems.The print edition also continued to be produced. On 4 January 2023, UK staff were informed of a security breach and that theInformation Commissioner's Officehad been notified, as required by GDPR. It was indicated that staff would continue working from home until at least 23 January.The newspaper confirmed on 11 January that personal details of all UK staff had been accessed by criminals.

Cyprus Confidential

Main article:Cyprus Confidential

In November 2023, theGuardianjoined with theInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists,Paper Trail Mediaand 69 media partners includingDistributed Denial of Secretsand theOrganized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project(OCCRP) and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territoriesto produce the 'Cyprus Confidential' report on the financial network which supports the regime ofVladimir Putin,mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned.Government officials including Cyprus presidentNikos Christodoulidesand European lawmakersbegan responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours,calling for reforms and launching probes.

Ownership and finances

The Guardianis part of theGuardian Media Group(GMG) of newspapers, radio stations and print media. GMG components includeThe Observer,The Guardian WeeklyandTheGuardian.All were owned byThe Scott Trust,a charitable foundation existing between 1936 and 2008, which aimed to ensure the paper'seditorial independencein perpetuity, maintaining its financial health to ensure it did not become vulnerable to takeovers by commercial media groups. At the beginning of October 2008, the Scott Trust's assets were transferred to a new limited company, The Scott Trust Limited, with the intention being that the original trust would be wound up.DameLiz Forgan,chair of the Scott Trust, reassured staff that the purposes of the new company remained the same as under the previous arrangements.

The Guardian'sheadquarters in London

The Guardianis the only British national daily to conduct (since 2003) an annual social, ethical and environmentalauditin which it examines, under the scrutiny of an independent external auditor, its own behaviour as a company.It is also the only British national daily newspaper to employ an internal ombudsman (called the "readers' editor" ) to handle complaints and corrections.

The Guardianand its parent groups participate inProject Syndicateand intervened in 1995 to save theMail & Guardianin South Africa; GMG sold the majority of its shares of theMail & Guardianin 2002.

The Guardianwas consistently loss-making until 2019.The National Newspaper division of GMG, which also includesThe Observer,reported operating losses of £49.9 million in 2006, up from £18.6 million in 2005.The paper was therefore heavily dependent on cross-subsidisation from profitable companies within the group.

The continual losses made by the National Newspaper division of theGuardian Media Groupcaused it to dispose of its Regional Media division by selling titles to competitorTrinity Mirrorin March 2010. This included the flagshipManchester Evening News,and severed the historic link between that paper andThe Guardian.The sale was in order to safeguard the future ofThe Guardiannewspaper as is the intended purpose of the Scott Trust.

In June 2011Guardian News and Mediarevealed increased annual losses of £33 million and announced that it was looking to focus on its online edition for news coverage, leaving the print edition to contain more comments and features. It was also speculated thatThe Guardianmight become the first British national daily paper to be fully online.

For the three years up to June 2012, the paper lost £100,000 a day, which promptedIntelligent Lifeto question whetherThe Guardiancould survive.

Between 2007 and 2014The Guardian Media Groupsold all their side businesses, of regional papers and online portals for classifieds, and consolidated intoThe Guardianas sole product. The sales let them acquire a capital stock of £838.3 million as of July 2014, supposed to guarantee the independence of theGuardianin perpetuity. In the first year, the paper made more losses than predicted, and in January 2016 the publishers announced thatThe Guardianwould cut 20 per cent of staff and costs within the next three years.The newspaper is rare in calling for direct contributions "to deliver the independent journalism the world needs."

The Guardian Media Group's 2018 annual report (year ending 1 April 2018) indicated some significant changes occurring. Its digital (online) editions accounted for over 50% of group revenues by that time; the loss from news and media operations was £18.6 million, 52% lower than during the prior year (2017: £38.9 million). The Group had cut costs by £19.1 million, partly by switching its print edition to the tabloid format. The Guardian Media Group's owner, the Scott Trust Endowment Fund, reported that its value at the time was £1.01 billion (2017: £1.03 billion).In the following financial report (for the year 2018–2019), the group reported a profit (EBITDA) of £0.8 million before exceptional items, thus breaking even in 2019.

To be sustainable, the annual subsidy must fall within the £25 million of interest returned on the investments from the Scott Trust Endowment Fund.

"Membership" subscription scheme

In 2014,The Guardianlaunched a membership scheme.The scheme aims to reduce the financial losses incurred byThe Guardianwithout introducing apaywall,thus maintaining open access to the website. Website readers can pay a monthly subscription, with three tiers available.As of 2018 this approach was considered successful, having brought more than 1 million subscriptions or donations, with the paper hoping to break even by April 2019.

Foundation funding

The Guardian Foundation at the Senate House History Day, 2019

In 2016, the company established a U.S.-based philanthropic arm to raise money from individuals and organizations including think tanks and corporate foundations.The grants are focused by the donors on particular issues. By the following year, the organization had raised $1 million from the likes ofPierre Omidyar's Humanity United, theSkoll Foundation,and theConrad N. Hilton Foundationto finance reporting on topics including modern-day slavery and climate change.The Guardianhas stated that it has secured $6 million "in multi-year funding commitments" thus far.

The new project developed from funding relationships which the paper already had with theFord,Rockefeller,andBill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Gates had given the organization $5 millionfor its Global Development webpage.

As of March 2020, the journal claims to be "the first major global news organisation to institute an outright ban on taking money from companies that extract fossil fuels."

Political stance and editorial opinion

Founded by textile traders and merchants, in its early yearsThe Guardianhad a reputation as "an organ of the middle class",or in the words of C. P. Scott's son Ted, "a paper that will remain bourgeois to the last".Associated at first with theLittle Circleand hence withclassical liberalismas expressed by theWhigsand later by theLiberal Party,its political orientation underwent a decisive change afterWorld War II,leading to a gradual alignment withLabourand thepolitical leftin general.

TheScott Trustdescribes one of its "core purposes" to be "to secure the financial and editorial independence of theGuardianin perpetuity: as a quality national newspaper without party affiliation; remaining faithful to its liberal tradition ".The paper's readership is generally on the mainstream left of British political opinion: aMORIpoll taken between April and June 2000 showed that 80 per cent ofGuardianreaders were Labour Party voters;according to another MORI poll taken in 2005, 48 per cent ofGuardianreaders were Labour voters and 34 per centLiberal Democratvoters.The term "Guardianreader "can be used to imply a stereotype ofliberal,left-wing or "politically correct"views.

Although the paper is often considered to be "linked inextricably" to the Labour Party,three ofThe Guardian'sfour leader writers joined the more centristSocial Democratic Partyon its foundation in 1981. The paper was enthusiastic in its support forTony Blairin his successful bid to lead the Labour Party,and to be elected Prime Minister.On 19 January 2003, two months before the2003 invasion of Iraq,anObserverEditorial said: "Military intervention in the Middle East holds many dangers. But if we want a lasting peace it may be the only option.... War with Iraq may yet not come, but, conscious of the potentially terrifying responsibility resting with the British Government, we find ourselves supporting the current commitment to a possible use of force."The Guardian,however, opposed the war, along with theDaily MirrorandThe Independent.

ThenGuardianfeatures editor Ian Katz asserted in 2004 that "it is no secret we are a centre-left newspaper".In 2008,GuardiancolumnistJackie Ashleysaid that editorial contributors were a mix of "right-of-centrelibertarians,greens, Blairites, Brownites, Labourite but less enthusiastic Brownites, etc, "and that the newspaper was" clearly left of centre and vaguely progressive ". She also said that" you can be absolutely certain that come the next general election,The Guardian'sstance will not be dictated by the editor, still less any foreign proprietor (it helps that there isn't one) but will be the result of vigorous debate within the paper ".The paper's comment and opinion pages, though often written by centre-left contributors such asPolly Toynbee,have allowed some space for right-of-centre voices such asSir Max HastingsandMichael Gove.Since an editorial in 2000,The Guardianhas favoured abolition of the British monarchy."I write for theGuardian,"said Max Hastings in 2005,"because it is read by the new establishment," reflecting the paper's then-growing influence.

In the run-up to the2010 general election,following a meeting of the editorial staff,the paper declared its support for the Liberal Democrats, due in particular, to the party's stance onelectoral reform.The paper suggestedtactical votingto prevent a Conservative victory, given Britain'sfirst-past-the-postelectoral system.Atthe 2015 election,the paper switched its support to theLabour Party.The paper argued that Britain needed a new direction and Labour "speaks with more urgency than its rivals on social justice, standing up to predatory capitalism, on investment for growth, on reforming and strengthening the public realm, Britain's place in Europe and international development".

Assistant Editor Michael White, in discussing media self-censorship in March 2011, says: "I have always sensed liberal, middle class ill-ease in going after stories about immigration, legal or otherwise, about welfare fraud or the less attractive tribal habits of the working class, which is more easily ignored altogether. Toffs, including royal ones, Christians, especially popes, governments of Israel, andU.S. Republicansare more straightforward targets. "

In a 2013 interview forNPR,The Guardian's Latin America correspondentRory Carrollstated that many editors atThe Guardianbelieved and continue to believe that they should supportHugo Chávez"because he was a standard-bearer for the left".

In the2015 United Kingdom general election,it endorsed the Labour Party.

In the2015 Labour Party leadership election,The Guardiansupported Blairite candidateYvette Cooperand was critical of left-wingerJeremy Corbyn,the successful candidate.These positions were criticised by theMorning Star,which accusedThe Guardianof being conservative.Although the majority ofGuardiancolumnists were against Corbyn winning,Owen Jones,Seumas Milne,andGeorge Monbiotwrote supportive articles about him. Despite the critical position of the paper in general,The Guardianendorsed the Labour Party while Corbyn was its leader in the2017and2019general elections — although in both cases they endorsed a vote for opposition parties other than Labour, such as the Liberal Democrats and theScottish National Partyin seats where Labour did not stand a chance.

In the2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum,The Guardianendorsed remaining in the EU,and in the2019 European electioninvited its readers to vote for pro-EU candidates, without endorsing specific parties.

Circulation and format

The Guardianhad a certified average daily circulation of 204,222 copies in December 2012 — a drop of 11.25 per cent in January 2012 — as compared to sales of 547,465 forThe Daily Telegraph,396,041 forThe Times,and 78,082 forThe Independent.In March 2013, its average daily circulation had fallen to 193,586, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.Circulation has continued to decline and stood at 161,091 in December 2016, a decline of 2.98 per cent year-on-year.In July 2021, the circulation was 105,134; later that year, the publishers stopped making circulation data public.

Publication history

The Guardian'sNewsroom visitor centre and archive (No 60), with an old sign with the nameThe Manchester Guardian

The first edition was published on 5 May 1821,at which timeThe Guardianwas a weekly, published on Saturdays and costing 7d;thestamp dutyon newspapers (4d per sheet) forced the price up so high that it was uneconomic to publish more frequently. When the stamp duty was cut in 1836,The Guardianadded a Wednesday edition and with the abolition of the tax in 1855 it became a daily paper costing 2d.

In October 1952, the paper took the step of printing news on the front page, replacing the adverts that had hitherto filled that space. Then-editor A. P. Wadsworth wrote: "It is not a thing I like myself, but it seems to be accepted by all the newspaper pundits that it is preferable to be in fashion."

Following the closure of the Anglican Church Newspaper,The Guardian,in 1951, the paper dropped "Manchester" from its title in 1959, becoming simplyThe Guardian.In 1964 it moved to London, losing some of its regional agenda but continuing to be heavily subsidised by sales of the more downmarket but more profitableManchester Evening News.The financial position remained extremely poor into the 1970s; at one time it was in merger talks withThe Times.The paper consolidated its centre-left stance during the 1970s and 1980s.

On 12 February 1988,The Guardianhad a significant redesign; as well as improving the quality of its printers' ink, it also changed its masthead to a juxtaposition of anitalicGaramond"The",with a boldHelvetica"Guardian", that remained in use until the 2005 redesign.

In 1992,The Guardianrelaunched its features section asG2,a tabloid-format supplement. This innovation was widely copied by the other "quality" broadsheets and ultimately led to the rise of "compact" papers andThe Guardian'smove to theBerliner format.In 1993 the paper declined to participate in the broadsheetprice warstarted byRupert Murdoch'sThe Times.In June 1993,The GuardianboughtThe ObserverfromLonrho,thus gaining a seriousSunday sister newspaperwith similar political views.

Its international weekly edition is now titledThe Guardian Weekly,though it retained the titleManchester Guardian Weeklyfor some years after the home edition had moved to London. It includes sections from a number of other internationally significant newspapers of a somewhat left-of-centre inclination, includingLe MondeandThe Washington Post.The Guardian Weeklywas also linked to a website for expatriates,Guardian Abroad,which was launched in 2007 but had been taken offline by 2012.

Moving to the Berliner paper format

Front page of 6 June 2014 edition in the Berliner format

The Guardianis printed in full colour,and was the first newspaper in the UK to use theBerlinerformat for its main section, while producing sections and supplements in a range of page sizes including tabloid, approximately A4, and pocket-size (approximately A5).

In 2004,The Guardianannounced plans to change to a Berliner or "midi" format,similar to that used byDie Tageszeitungin Germany,Le Mondein France and many other European papers. At 470×315 mm, this is slightly larger than a traditionaltabloid.Planned for the autumn of 2005, this change followed moves byThe IndependentandThe Timesto start publishing in tabloid (or compact) format. On Thursday, 1 September 2005,The Guardianannounced that it would launch the new format on Monday 12 September 2005.Sister Sunday newspaperThe Observeralso changed to this new format on 8 January 2006.

The format switch was accompanied by a comprehensive redesign of the paper's look. On Friday, 9 September 2005, the newspaper unveiled its newly designed front page, which débuted on Monday 12 September 2005. Designed byMark Porter,the new look includes a newmastheadfor the newspaper, its first since 1988. A typeface family designed byPaul BarnesandChristian Schwartzwas created for the new design. With just over 200 fonts, it was described as "one of the most ambitious custom type programs ever commissioned by a newspaper".Among the fonts isGuardian Egyptian,aslab serifthat is used in various weights for both text and headlines, and is central to the redesign.

The switch costGuardian Newspapers£80 million and involved setting up new printing presses in east London and Manchester.This switch was necessary because, beforeThe Guardian'smove, no printing presses in Britain could produce newspapers in the Berliner format. There were additional complications, as one of the paper's presses was part-owned byTelegraph NewspapersandExpress Newspapers,contracted to use the plant until 2009. Another press was shared with theGuardian Media Group'snorth-western tabloid local papers, which did not wish to switch to the Berliner format.

Reception

The new format was generally well received byGuardianreaders, who were encouraged to provide feedback on the changes. The only controversy was over the dropping of theDoonesburycartoon strip. The paper reported thousands of calls and emails complaining about its loss; within 24 hours the decision was reversed and the strip was reinstated the following week.G2supplement editor Ian Katz, who was responsible for dropping it, apologised in the editors' blog saying, "I'm sorry, once again, that I made you—and the hundreds of fellow fans who have called our helpline or mailed our comments' address—so cross."However, some readers were dissatisfied as the earlier deadline needed for the all-colour sports section meant coverage of late-finishing evening football matches became less satisfactory in the editions supplied to some parts of the country.

The investment was rewarded with a circulation rise. In December 2005, the average daily sale stood at 380,693, nearly 6 per cent higher than the figure for December 2004.However, by December 2012, circulation had dropped to 204,222.In 2006, the US-basedSociety for News DesignchoseThe Guardianand Polish dailyRzeczpospolitaas the world's best-designed newspapers—from among 389 entries from 44 countries.

Tabloid format since 2018

In June 2017,Guardian Media Group(GMG) announced thatThe GuardianandThe Observerwould relaunch intabloid formatfrom early 2018.The Guardianconfirmed the launch date for the new format to be 15 January 2018. GMG also signed a contract withTrinity Mirror– the publisher of theDaily Mirror,Sunday Mirror,andSunday People– tooutsourceprinting ofThe GuardianandThe Observer.

The format change is intended to help cut costs as it allows the paper to be printed by a wider array of presses, and outsourcing the printing to presses owned by Trinity Mirror is expected to save millions of pounds annually. The move is part of a three-year plan that includes cutting 300 jobs in an attempt to reduce losses and break even by 2019.The paper and ink are the same as previously and the font size is fractionally larger.

An assessment of the response from readers in late April 2018 indicated that the new format had led to an increased number of subscriptions. The editors were working on changing aspects that had caused complaints from readers.

In July 2018, the masthead of the new tabloid format was adjusted to a dark blue.

Online media

The Guardianand its Sunday siblingThe Observerpublish all their news online, with free access both to current news and an archive of three million stories. A third of the site's hits are for items over a month old.As of May 2013, it was the most popular UK newspaper website with 8.2 million unique visitors per month, just ahead ofMail Onlinewith 7.6 million unique monthly visitors.In April 2011,MediaWeekreported thatThe Guardianwas the fifth most popular newspaper site in the world.Journalists use an analytics tool called Ophan, built entirely in-house, to measure website data around stories and audience.However, the number of online readers had drastically dropped by July 2021.

The Guardianlaunched aniOSmobile applicationfor its content in 2009.AnAndroidapp followed in 2011.In 2018, the newspaper announced its apps and mobile website would be redesigned to coincide with its relaunch as a tabloid.

TheComment is Freesection features columns by the paper's journalists and regular commentators, as well as articles from guest writers, including readers' comments and responses below. The section includes all the opinion pieces published in the paper itself, as well as many others that only appear online. Censorship is exercised by Moderators who can ban posts – with no right of appeal – by those who they feel have overstepped the mark.The Guardianhas taken what they call a very "open" stance in delivering news, and have launched an open platform for their content. This allows external developers to easily useGuardiancontent in external applications, and even to feed third-party content back into theGuardiannetwork.The Guardianalso had a number of talkboards that were noted for their mix of political discussion and whimsy until they were closed on Friday, 25 February 2011 after they had settled a libel action brought after months of harassment of a conservative party activist.They were spoofed inThe Guardian'sown regular humorous Chatroom column inG2.The spoof column purported to be excerpts from a chatroom on permachat.co.uk, a real URL that pointed toThe Guardian'stalkboards.

In August 2013, a webshow titledThinkfluencerwas launched by Guardian Multimedia in association withArte.

In 2004 the paper also launched a dating website, Guardian Soulmates.On 1 July 2020, Guardian Soulmates was closed down with the explanation: "It hasn't been an easy decision to make, but the online dating world is a very different place to when we first launched online in July 2004. There are so many dating apps now, so many ways to meet people, which are often free and very quick."An American version of the website titledGuardian Americawas an American version of the British news websiteGuardian Unlimitedintended to win more U.S.-based readers. It was abandoned in October 2009.The Guardianlaunched an.onionversion of its website on theTornetwork in May 2022,with assistance fromAlec Muffett.

Podcasts

The paper enteredpodcastingin 2005 with a twelve-part weeklypodcastseries byRicky Gervais.In January 2006, Gervais' show topped theiTunespodcast chart having been downloaded by two million listeners worldwide,and was scheduled to be listed in the 2007Guinness Book of Recordsas the most downloaded podcast.

The Guardiannow offers several regular podcasts made by its journalists. One of the most prominent isToday in Focus,a daily news podcast hosted byAnushka Asthanaand launched on 1 November 2018. It was an immediate successand became one of the UK's most-downloaded podcasts.

GuardianFilms

In 2003The Guardianstarted the film production company GuardianFilms, headed by journalist Maggie O'Kane. Much of the company's output is documentary made for television– and it has includedSalam Pax'sBaghdad BloggerforBBC Two's daily flagshipNewsnight,some of which have been shown in compilations byCNNInternational,Sex on the StreetsandSpiked,both made for the UK'sChannel 4television.

GuardianFilms has received several broadcasting awards. In addition to two Amnesty International Media Awards in 2004 and 2005,The Baghdad Blogger: Salam Paxwon a Royal Television Society Award in 2005.Baghdad: A Doctor's Storywon an Emmy Award for Best International Current Affairs film in 2007.In 2008photojournalist Sean Smith'sInside the Surgewon the Royal Television Society award for best international news film – the first time a newspaper has won such an award.The same year,The Guardian'sKatinewebsite was awarded for its outstanding new media output at the One World Media awards. Again in 2008, GuardianFilms' undercover video report revealing vote rigging byRobert Mugabe'sZANU–PFparty during the 2007 Zimbabwe election won best news programme of the year at the Broadcast Awards.

References in popular culture

The paper's nicknameThe Grauniad(sometimes abbreviated as "Graun" ) originated with the satirical magazinePrivate Eye.Thisanagramplayed onThe Guardian's early reputation for frequenttypographical errors,including misspelling its own name asThe Gaurdian.

The first issue of the newspaper contained a number of errors, including a notification that there would soon be some goods sold atatctioninstead ofauction.Fewer typographical errors are seen in the paper since the end ofhot-metal typesetting.OneGuardianwriter,Keith Devlin,suggested that the high number of observed misprints was due more to the quality of the readership than the misprints' greater frequency.The newspaper was printed in Manchester until 1961 and the fact that the prints sent to London by train were the early, more error-prone, prints may have contributed to this image as well.WhenJohn Colewas appointed news editor byAlastair Hetheringtonin 1963, he sharpened the paper's comparatively "amateurish" setup.

Employees ofThe Guardianand sister paperThe Observerhave been depicted in the filmsThe Fifth Estate(2013),Snowden(2016) andOfficial Secrets(2019), whilePaddy Considineplayed a fictionalGuardianjournalist in the filmThe Bourne Ultimatum(2007).

Awards

Received

The Guardianhas been awarded the National Newspaper of the Year in 1998, 2005,2010and 2013by theBritish Press Awards,and Front Page of the Year in 2002 ( "A declaration of war", 12 September 2001).It was also co-winner of the World's Best-designed Newspaper as awarded by theSociety for News Design(2005, 2007, 2013, 2014).

Guardianjournalists have won a range of British Press Awards, including:

• Reporter of the Year (Nick Davies,2000;Paul Lewis,2010;Rob Evans & Paul Lewis, 2014);
• Foreign Reporter of the Year (James Meek,2004;Ghaith Abdul-Ahad,2008);
• Scoop of the Year (Milly Dowlerphone hacked, 2012)
• Young Journalist of the Year (Emma Brockes,2001;Patrick Kingsley,2013);
• Columnist of the Year (Polly Toynbee,2007;Charlie Brooker,2009);
• Critic of the Year (Marina O'Loughlin,2015);
• Feature Writer of the Year (Emma Brockes,2002;Tanya Gold,2009;Amelia Gentleman,2010);
• Cartoonist of the Year (Steve Bell,2003);
• Political Journalist of the Year (Patrick Wintour,2006;Andrew Sparrow,2010);
• Science & Health Journalist of the Year (Sarah Boseley, 2016);
• Business & Finance Journalist of the Year (Ian Griffiths, 2005;Simon Goodley, 2014);
• Interviewer of the Year (Decca Aitkenhead,2008);
• Sports Reporter of the Year (David Lacey,1997, 2002);
• Sports Photographer of the Year (Tom Jenkins, 2003, 2005, 2006,2015);
• Website of the Year (guardian /uk, 1999, 2001,2007,2008,2015,2020);
• Digital Journalist of the Year (Dan Milmo, 2001;Sean Smith, 2008;Dave Hill, 2009)
• Supplement of the Year (Guardian's Guides to...,2007;Weekend Magazine,2015)
• Special Supplement of the Year (World Cup 2010 Guide,2010)

Other awards include:

• Bevins Prizefor investigative journalism (Paul Lewis,2010);
• Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism(Nick Davies,1999;Chris McGreal,2003;Ghaith Abdul-Ahad,2005;Ian Cobain,2009).

The excellence ofGUARDIANenvironmental reporting has been recognized with numerousSEAL Environmental Journalism Awards: (Damian Carrington, 2017,2018;Johnathan Watts, 2018,2019; Fiona Harvey, 2019,2020; George Monbiot, 2017; and Richa Syal, 2022).

TheGuardian, Observerand its journalists have also won numerous accolades at theBritish Sports Journalism Awards:

• Sports Writer of the Year (Daniel Taylor,2017)
• Sports News Reporter of the Year (David Conn,2009, 2014)
• Football Journalist of the Year (Daniel Taylor, 2015, 2016, 2017)
• Sports Interviewer of the Year (Donald McRae,2009, 2011)
• Diarist of the Year (David Hills, 2009)
• Sports Feature Writer of the Year (Donald McRae, 2017,2018)
• Specialist Correspondent of the Year (Sean Ingle,2016,2017)
• Scoop of the Year (Daniel Taylor 2016;Martha KelnerandSean Ingle,2017)
• Sports Newspaper of the Year (2017)
• Sports Website of the Year (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
• Sports Journalists' Association Sports Portfolio of the Year (Tom Jenkins, 2011)

Theguardian.co.ukwebsite won the Best Newspaper category three years running in 2005, 2006 and 2007Webby Awards,beating (in 2005)The New York Times,The Washington Post,The Wall Street JournalandVariety.It has been the winner for six years in a row of the British Press Awards for Best Electronic Daily Newspaper.The site won anEppyaward from the US-based magazineEditor & Publisherin 2000 for the best-designed newspaper online service.

In 2007, the newspaper was ranked first in a study on transparency that analysed 25 mainstream English-language media vehicles, which was conducted by the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda of theUniversity of Maryland.It scored 3.8 out of a possible 4.0.

The Guardian USandThe Washington Postshared the 2014Pulitzer Prize for public service reportingfor their coverage of the NSA's and GCHQ's worldwide electronic surveillance program and the document leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Given

The Guardianis the sponsor of two major literary awards: TheGuardian First Book Award,established in 1999 as a successor to theGuardian Fiction Award,which had run since 1965, and theGuardian Children's Fiction Prize,founded in 1967. In recent years the newspaper has also sponsored theHay FestivalinHay-on-Wye.

The annualGuardian Student Media Awards,founded in 1999, recognise excellence in journalism and design of British university and collegestudent newspapers,magazines and websites.

In memory ofPaul Foot,who died in 2004,The GuardianandPrivate Eyejointly set up thePaul Foot Award,with an annual £10,000 prize fund, for investigative or campaigning journalism.

The newspaper producesThe Guardian100 Best Footballers In The World.Since 2018 it has also co-produced the female equivalent,The 100 Best Female Footballers In The World.

In 2016,The Guardianbegan awarding an annualFootballer of the Yearaward, given to a footballer regardless of gender "who has done something truly remarkable, whether by overcoming adversity, helping others or setting a sporting example by acting with exceptional honesty."

Best books lists

• The Guardian's 100 best novelsis alistof the best English-language novels as selected byRobert McCrum.
• The Guardian's 100 greatest non-fiction book list has come out in 2011and in 2017, as selected by Robert McCrum.

Editors

#	Name	Term	Notes
1	John Edward Taylor	1821–1844
2	Jeremiah Garnett	1844–1861	Served jointly with Russell Scott Taylor from 1847 to 1848
	Russell Scott Taylor	1847–1848	Served jointly with Jeremiah Garnett
4	Edward Taylor	1861–1872
5	Charles Prestwich Scott	1872–1929
6	Ted Scott	1929–1932
7	William Percival Crozier	1932–1944
8	Alfred Powell Wadsworth	1944–1956
9	Alastair Hetherington	1956–1975
10	Peter Preston	1975–1995
11	Alan Rusbridger	1995–2015
12	Katharine Viner	2015–present

Notable regular contributors (past and present)

Columnists and journalists:

• David Aaronovitch
• James Agate
• Ian Aitken
• Decca Aitkenhead
• Brian Aldiss
• Tariq Ali
• Araucaria
• John Arlott
• Claire Armitstead
• Mark Arnold-Forster
• Jackie Ashley
• Dilpazier Aslam
• Harriet Baber
• Nancy Banks-Smith
• Leonard Barden
• Laura Barton
• Catherine Bennett
• Marcel Berlins
• Michael Billington
• Heston Blumenthal
• Sidney Blumenthal
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali
• Frankie Boyle
• Mark Boyle
• Lloyd Bradley
• Russell Brand
• Emma Brockes
• Charlie Brooker
• Thom Brooks
• Guy Browning
• Alex Brummer
• Inayat Bunglawala
• Madeleine Bunting
• Julie Burchill
• Simon Callow
• James Cameron
• Duncan Campbell
• Neville Cardus
• Alexander Chancellor
• Kira Cochrane
• Mark Cocker
• Alistair Cooke
• G. D. H. Cole
• John Cole
• Rosalind Coward
• Gavyn Davies
• Robin Denselow
• Beth Ditto
• Tim Dowling
• Terry Eagleton
• Larry Elliott
• Matthew Engel
• Edzard Ernst
• Harold Evans
• Evelyn Flinders
• Paul Foot
• Liz Forgan
• Brian J. Ford
• John Fordham
• Dawn Foster
• Nigel Fountain
• Ebenezer Fox
• Michael Frayn
• Jonathan Freedland
• Hadley Freeman
• Timothy Garton Ash
• Tanya Gold
• Ben Goldacre
• Victor Gollancz
• Richard Gott
• A. C. Grayling
• Roy Greenslade
• Germaine Greer
• A. Harry Griffin
• Ben Hammersley
• Clifford Harper
• Mehdi Hasan
• Max Hastings
• Roy Hattersley
• David Hencke
• Georgina Henry
• Isabel Hilton
• L. T. Hobhouse
• J. A. Hobson
• Tom Hodgkinson
• Will Hodgkinson
• Simon Hoggart
• Stewart Holden
• Clare Hollingworth
• Will Hutton
• Marina Hyde
• C. L. R. James
• Erwin James(pseudonym)
• Waldemar Januszczak
• Simon Jenkins
• Stanley Johnson
• Owen Jones
• Alex Kapranos
• Saeed Kamali Dehghan
• Victor Keegan
• Martin Kelner
• Emma Kennedy
• Maev Kennedy
• Martin Kettle
• Arthur Koestler
• Aleks Krotoski
• David Lacey
• Mark Lawson
• David Leigh
• Rod Liddle
• Sue Limb(asDulcie Domum)
• Maureen Lipman
• Joris Luyendijk
• John Maddox
• Derek Malcolm
• Dan McDougall
• Johnjoe McFadden
• Melanie McFadyean
• Neil McIntosh
• David McKie
• Gareth McLean
• Ian Mayes
• Anna Minton
• David Mitchell
• George Monbiot
• C. E. Montague
• Suzanne Moore
• Malcolm Muggeridge
• James Naughtie
• Richard Norton-Taylor
• Maggie O'Kane
• Susie Orbach
• Greg Palast
• David Pallister
• Michael Parkinson
• 'Salam Pax'
• Jim Perrin
• Melanie Phillips
• Helen Pidd
• John Pilger
• Anna Politkovskaya
• Peter Preston
• Tim Radford
• Arthur Ransome
• Adam Raphael
• Andrew Rawnsley
• Brian Redhead
• James H Reeve
• Gillian Reynolds
• Simon Rogers
• Jon Ronson
• Rhik Samadder
• Ash Sarkar
• Jack Schofield
• Mike Selvey
• Norman Shrapnel
• Frank Sidebottom
• Michael Simkins
• Posy Simmonds
• Howard Spring
• Jean Stead
• David Steel
• Jonathan Steele
• Mary Stott
• Allegra Stratton
• John Sutherland
• R. H. Tawney
• A. J. P. Taylor
• Simon Tisdall
• Arnold Toynbee
• Polly Toynbee
• Jill Tweedie
• Bibi van der Zee
• F. A. Voigt
• Ed Vulliamy
• Hilary Wainwright
• Martin Walker
• Hank Wangford
• Jim Waterson
• Jonathan Watts
• Francis Wheen
• Brian Whitaker
• Estelle White
• Michael White
• Ann Widdecombe
• Zoe Williams
• Ted Wragg
• Hugo Young
• Gary Younge
• Xue Xinran
• Tony Zappone
• Slavoj Žižek
• Victor Zorza

Cartoonists:

• David Austin
• Steve Bell
• Joe Berger
• Berke Breathed
• Biff
• Peter Clarke
• Les Gibbard
• John Kent
• Jamie Lenman
• David Low
• Martin Rowson
• Posy Simmonds
• Garry Trudeau

Satirists:

• John Crace
• Jeremy Hardy
• Armando Iannucci
• Terry Jones
• Craig Brownas "Bel Littlejohn"
• John O'Farrell
• Mark Steel

Experts:

• Tim Atkin
• Matthew Fort
• Malcolm Gluck
• Tim Hayward

Photographers and picture editors:

• Herbert Walter Doughty (The Manchester Guardian'sfirst photographer, July 1908)
• Eamonn McCabe
• Sean Smith

Guardian News & Media archive

The Guardianand its sister newspaperThe Observeropened The Newsroom, an archive and visitor centre in London, in 2002. The centre preserved and promoted the histories and values of the newspapers through its archive, educational programmes and exhibitions. The Newsroom's activities were all transferred toKings Placein 2008.Now known as The Guardian News & Media archive, the archive preserves and promotes the histories and values ofThe GuardianandThe Observernewspapers by collecting and making accessible material that provides an accurate and comprehensive history of the papers. The archive holds official records ofThe GuardianandThe Observer,and also seeks to acquire material from individuals who have been associated with the papers. As well as corporate records, the archive holds correspondence, diaries, notebooks, original cartoons and photographs belonging to staff of the papers.This material may be consulted by members of the public by prior appointment. An extensiveManchester Guardianarchive also exists at the University of Manchester's John Rylands University Library, and there is a collaboration programme between the two archives. Additionally, theBritish Libraryhas a large archive ofThe Manchester Guardianavailable in its British Library Newspapers collection, in online, hard copy, microform, and CD-ROM formats.

In November 2007,The GuardianandThe Observermade their archives available over the internet via DigitalArchive. The current extent of the archives available are 1821 to 2000 forThe Guardianand 1791 to 2000 forThe Observer:these archives will eventually run up to 2003.

The Newsroom's other components were also transferred to Kings Place in 2008.The Guardian'sEducation Centre provides a range of educational programmes for students and adults.The Guardian'sexhibition space was also moved to Kings Place, and has a rolling programme of exhibitions that investigate and reflect upon aspects of news and newspapers and the role of journalism. This programme often draws on the archive collections held in the GNM Archive.

See also

• Journalism portal
• United Kingdom portal
• Guardian Monthly
• The Guardian Weekly

Further reading

• Ayerst, David (1971).The Manchester Guardian: Biography of a Newspaper.Cornell University Press.ISBN0-8014-0642-0.OCLC149105.
• Hetherington, Alastair(1981).Guardian Years.London:Chatto & Windus.ISBN0-7011-2552-7.OCLC8358459.
• Merrill, John Calhoun;Fisher, Harold A. (1980).The World's Great Dailies: Profiles of Fifty Newspapers.Hastings House. pp.143–150.ISBN0-8038-8095-2.OCLC5286129.
• Mills, William Haslam (1921).The Manchester Guardian: A Century of History.London:Chatto & Windus.OCLC1049642959.

External links

• Official website
• Today'sThe Guardianfront pageat theFreedom Forumwebsite
• Guardian Media companiesgrouped atOpenCorporates
• Works by or aboutThe GuardianatInternet Archive(historic)
• Works byThe GuardianatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)