The changing of the guard (original) (raw)

“I intend to lead a media organisation that is bold, challenging, open and engaging. It will be a home for the most ambitious journalism, ideas and events, setting the agenda and reaching out to readers all around the world.” The words of Katharine Viner, in a statement released shortly after her appointment as editor-in-chief of the Guardian and Observer was announced in March 2015.

Viner was appointed after an open recruitment process that, for the first time in the Guardian’s history, was open to international candidates. The process also included an editorial hustings session, where internal candidates could put their case to their editorial colleagues who then voted for their favoured candidate (Viner took more than 50% of the votes).

In the post-announcement press release, the editor in waiting referred to the ‘remarkable tenure’ of editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, who stepped down from the role in the summer. Rusbridger will take over as chair of The Scott Trust in 2016.

Since his appointment in 1995, the Guardian’s 10th editor has overseen what can only be described as seismic change, both within the media industry and Guardian News & Media itself. One of the most notable developments during his tenure was the phenomenal growth of the Guardian online or, as it is known today, theguardian.com

A new look for theguardian.com

In January, after 18 months of development and a ‘soft launch’ in the US and Australia, the new-look theguardian.com was unveiled to readers in the UK and the rest of the world. Writing on the Inside the Guardian blog, Wolfgang Blau, director of digital strategy commented: “On any given day, Guardian readers are using thousands of different types of devices to read, view, discuss and share our journalism with each other. The amount of device types on which you can access the Guardian will only continue to increase. So, we want to make sure that we always provide you with a consistent, fast-loading, familiar and pleasurable experience, whatever your screen size.”

Although initially users’ reviews of the new site were mixed, in the same month as it officially launched, the new-look theguardian.com attracted a record-breaking 120m unique browsers according to figures released by Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC). Helped by the news agenda, traffic rose 14% month-on-month and almost 35% year-on-year. Monthly page views were also up by more than 25% year-on-year.

The growth was seen across all territories, with a rise of more than 21% year-on-year in the UK, and more than 42% year-on-year across the rest of the world. Mobile traffic also saw a staggering increase of 98% since January 2014.

Awards success

Website of the Year, App of the Year, Innovation of the year and World’s Best Designed Newspaper: just a handful of the awards bestowed on the Guardian and Observer by their peers over the last 12 months. Individual awards went to Martin Chulov who won the prestigious Orwell prize for journalism for his coverage of the Middle East; Observer columnist Nick Cohen took a prize in the commentator category in the European Press Prize awards and Luke Harding won the James Cameron award for his work covering events in the Ukraine and Russia.

There were also wins at the Webby Awards and our colleagues in Australia won Scoop of the Year, with ABC News, at the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism, for their piece on how Australia’s spy agencies targeted the Indonesian president’s mobile phone. Guardian Australia reporter Paul Daley also won the Coverage of Indigenous Affairs award (see a full list of awards here).

Campaigns

Among the clutch of awards given to the Guardian & Observer over the last 12 months was the Editorial Campaign of the Year at the British Media Awards, which the paper took for its campaign to end the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

In March, the FGM campaign was followed by Keep it in the ground. Launched in partnership with 350.org, it’s a campaign for fossil fuel divestment. Divestment is the offloading of stocks, bonds or funds from particular sectors or companies. The campaign for fossil fuel divestment is asking institutions, universities, companies, charities, pension funds and so on to take their money out of oil, coal and gas companies for both moral and financial reasons.

Keep it in the ground campaign Guardian

Reflections

The impetus for the campaign came from, among other things, Alan Rusbridger’s reflection on his time as editor-in-chief. In a piece he wrote for the launch of Keep it in the ground, he said: “I have very few regrets, I thought, except this one: that we had not done justice to this huge, overshadowing, overwhelming issue of how climate change will probably, within the lifetime of our children, cause untold havoc and stress to our species.

“So, in the time left to me as editor, I thought I would try to harness the Guardian’s best resources to describe what is happening and what – if we do nothing – is almost certain to occur, a future that one distinguished scientist has termed as “incompatible with any reasonable characterisation of an organised, equitable and civilised global community.

“The usual rule of newspaper campaigns is that you don’t start one unless you know you’re going to win it. This one will almost certainly be won in time: the physics is unarguable. But we are launching our campaign in the firm belief that it will force the issue now into the boardrooms and inboxes of people who have billions of dollars at their disposal.”

In its initial stages, the Keep it in the ground campaign focused on persuading the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust – the world’s two biggest charitable funds - to move their money out of fossil fuels. Within two months, more than 200,000 people had signed a petition, urging them to do that.

“Farewell, readers”

“Next week, for the first time in 20 years, I will have stepped off the hamster wheel of news,” wrote Alan Rusbridger in a letter addressed to readers as he stepped down as editor-in-chief at the end of May.In a piece that looked back at two decades of an editorship that saw sweeping changes at the paper and within the industry, Alan thanked readers for their support, engagement, response and argument. “I’ve noticed that some of the most devoted readers tend to carbon-date themselves by editor… but, in the end, we editors just pass through. We all know that you, the readers, are the real carriers of the flame.”