The Guardian

The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. It is published Monday to Saturday in the Berliner format, with left-of-centre politics. Until 1959 it was called The Manchester Guardian, reflecting its provincial origins: the paper is still occasionally referred to by this name, especially in North America, although it has been based in London since 1964 (with printing facilities in both Manchester and London).

History

The Manchester Guardian was founded in Manchester in 1821 by a group of non-conformist businessmen headed by John Edward Taylor. The prospectus which announced the new publication proclaimed that "it will zealously enforce the principles of civil and religious Liberty … it will warmly advocate the cause of Reform; it will endeavour to assist in the diffusion of just principles of Political Economy; and to support, without reference to the party from which they emanate, all serviceable measures."

Related Topics:
Manchester - 1821 - Non-conformist - John Edward Taylor

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The first edition was published on May 5, 1821, at which time the Guardian was a weekly, published on Saturdays and costing 7d.; the stamp duty on 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 Guardian added a Wednesday edition; with the abolition of the tax in 1855 it became a daily paper costing 2d.

Related Topics:
May 5 - 1821 - D - Stamp duty - 1836 - 1855

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Its most famous editor, C. P. Scott, made the Manchester Guardian into a nationally famous newspaper. 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, supporting Gladstone when the Liberals split in 1886, and opposing the Boer War against popular opinion.

Related Topics:
C. P. Scott - 1872 - 1907 - 1886 - Boer War

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Scott's friendship with Chaim Weizmann played a role in the Balfour Declaration, and in 1948 the Guardian was a supporter of the State of Israel. The story of the relationship between the Guardian and the zionist movement and Israel is told in Daphna Baram's book "Disenchantment: The Guardian and Israel" (Politico's, 2003. ISBN 1842751190).

Related Topics:
Chaim Weizmann - Balfour Declaration - Israel - Zionist

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In June 1936, to avoid death duty, ownership of the paper was passed to the Scott Trust (named after the last owner, John Russell Scott, who was the first chairman of the Trust). This move ensured the paper's independence, and it was then noted for its eccentric style, its moralising and its detached attitude to its finances.

Related Topics:
1936 - Death duty - Scott Trust

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Traditionally affiliated with the centrist Liberal Party, and with a northern circulation base, the paper earned a national reputation and the respect of the left during the Spanish Civil War, when along with the now defunct News Chronicle it was the only UK source of news that was not tainted by support for the insurgent nationalists led by General Francisco Franco.

Related Topics:
Liberal Party - Spanish Civil War - News Chronicle - Nationalists - Francisco Franco

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In 1952 the paper took the step of printing news on the front page, replacing the adverts that had hitherto filled that space. The 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".

Related Topics:
1952 - A.P. Wadsworth

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In 1959 the paper dropped "Manchester" from its title, becoming simply The Guardian, and 1964 it moved to London, losing some of its regional agenda but continuing to be heavily subsidised by sales of the less intellectual but much more profitable Manchester Evening News. The financial position remained extremely poor into the 1970s; at one time it was in merger talks with The Times. The paper consolidated its left-wing stance during the 1970s and 1980s but was both shocked and revitalised by the launch of The Independent in 1986 which competed for similar readers and provoked the entire broadsheet industry into a fight for circulation.

Related Topics:
1959 - 1964 - London - Manchester Evening News - 1970s - Left-wing - 1980s - The Independent - 1986

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In 1988 The Guardian had a significant redesign; as well as improving the quality of its printers ink, it also changed its masthead to its soon-familiar (but no-longer used as of 2005) juxtaposition of an italic Garamond "The", with a bold Helvetica "Guardian".

Related Topics:
1988 - 2005 - Italic - Garamond - Helvetica

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In 1992 it relaunched its features section as "G2", a tabloid-format supplement. This innovation was widely copied by the other "quality" broadsheets, and ultimately led to the rise of "compact" papers and The Guardians move to the Berliner format. In 1993 the paper declined to participate in the broadsheet 'price war' started by Rupert Murdoch's The Times. Also in 1993, The Guardian bought The Observer from Lonrho, thus gaining a serious Sunday newspaper partner with similar political views.

Related Topics:
1992 - 1993 - Rupert Murdoch - The Observer - Lonrho

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In 1995, both the Granada Television programme World In Action and The Guardian were sued for libel by the then cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken, for their allegation that the Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Fahd had paid for Aitken and his wife to stay at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, which would have amounted to accepting a bribe on Aitken's part. Aitken publicly stated he would fight with "the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play" http://www.guardian.co.uk/aitken/Story/0,2763,208516,00.html. The court case proceeded, and in 1997 The Guardian produced evidence that Aitken's claim of his wife paying for the hotel stay was untrue. http://www.guardian.co.uk/aitken/Story/0,2763,208503,00.html In 1999, Aitken was jailed for perjury and perverting the course of justice. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/258070.stm

Related Topics:
1995 - Granada Television - World In Action - Libel - Jonathan Aitken - Saudi - Mohammed bin Fahd - Hôtel Ritz - Paris - 1997 - 1999 - Perjury - Perverting the course of justice

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During the Afghanistan and Iraq wars The Guardian attracted a significant proportion of anti-war readers as one of the mass-media media outlets most critical of UK and USA military initiatives. The newspaper also gained readers in the United States where there were few "anti-war" rivals.

Related Topics:
Afghanistan - Iraq - United States

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Its international weekly edition is now titled The Guardian Weekly, though it retained the title Manchester Guardian Weekly for 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, including Le Monde. In 2004, The Guardian introduced an online digital version of its print edition, allowing readers to download pages from the last 14 issues as PDF files.

Related Topics:
Le Monde - 2004 - PDF

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In August 2004, for the US presidential election, the daily "G2" supplement, edited by Ian Katz, launched an experimental letter-writing campaign in Clark County, Ohio, a small county in a swing state. Katz bought a voter list from the county for $25 and asked people to write to those on the list undecided in the election. The point of this venture was for the writers to give Clark County voters a taste of international opinion, without endorsing any candidates. This caused something of a backlash, and on 21 October, 2004, the paper retired the campaign.

Related Topics:
2004 - US presidential election - Clark County - Ohio - Swing state - Backlash - 21 October

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Following the 7 July 2005 London bombings, The Guardian gave prominent comment space to Dilpazier Aslam (see We rock the boat), a 27-year-old British Muslim journalism trainee from Yorkshire. Aslam was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group, and had published a number of articles on their website. According to the paper, it did not know that Aslam was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir (see Background: the Guardian and Dilpazier Aslam). The Home Office has claimed the group's "ultimate aim is the establishment of an Islamic state (Caliphate), according to Hizb ut-Tahrir via non-violent means". The Guardian asked Aslam to resign, and – when he did not do so – terminated his employment (see Dilpazier Aslam leaves Guardian registration req'd).

Related Topics:
7 July 2005 London bombings - Dilpazier Aslam - Muslim - Yorkshire - Hizb ut-Tahrir - Islamist - Home Office - Islamic

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In 2005 The Guardian moved to the Berliner paper format and changed the design of its masthead.

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