The Guardian Industry

Question 1

What kind of newspaper is the Guardian?

Answer 1

broadsheet

Question 2

What was the Guardian originally called and why did it change its name?

Answer 2

Known as the Manchester Guardian, but changed to the Guardian in 1959 to reflect its increasing coverage of national and international news

Question 3

When was the Guardian founded?

Answer 3

1821

Question 4

Which group is the Guardian a part of?

Answer 4

Guardian Media Group, a world leading media organisation

Question 5

Who owns the Guardian?

Answer 5

The Scott Trust

Question 6

How is the Guardian regulated?

Answer 6

Not by IPSO; self regulated

Question 7

In what two ways has the change of consumer habits (moving to the Internet) impacted the amount of money made by newspapers

Answer 7

They make less money from the number of papers sold
Advertisers have demanded they pay less for space because less people are seeing it.

Question 8

What are some of the ways papers can make money since print sales have declined?

Answer 8

Websites (advertising)
Digital subscriptions
Paper subscriptions (deliveries etc)
Apps (advertising and subscriptions)
Exclusive online content (Mail+)

Question 9

Why has the Daily Mail remained more resilient in its print sales than the Guardian?

Answer 9

It has an older target audience who are slower to move to technology. However, while the Daily Mail remains popular with older consumers, The Guardian is slowly beginning to have more reader than ever before because they are trustworthy, which is what young professionals want

Question 10

How has the Guardian tried to attract traffic to their site

Answer 10

The Guardian has tried to attract more online traffic through their ‘Comment is Free’ section which features regular columnists who comment on various social, political and cultural issues

Question 11

What are the positives of the Guardian being owned by the Scott Trust?

Answer 11

-frees the newspaper from the domination and influence of an individual owner and from the need to respond to short-term business interests.
-journalists know they will be supported in their work
-The return on investment for the trust is the quality of the journalism – not a financial dividend.
-continue to pursue values in our journalism: honesty, integrity, courage, fairness and a sense of duty to the reader and to the community.
-The Guardian media group invests money mainly into the website as well as the paper to ensure its stability
-it means the paper is more flexible in terms of its name and structure (print vs online)

Question 12

Why bother having the Scott Trust if it doesn’t control the newspaper

Answer 12

-it’s essential that our journalism is matched by an efficient and profitable company that takes a long view of how to deploy resources – for instance, in managing the difficult transition from the print marketplace to the turmoil of the digital world.
-The trust has a sizeable investment portfolio which it uses partly to support the journalism year on year and partly to invest in long-term structural change to keep up with digital transformation
-The trust also appoints editor in chief and chair of the GMG
-Prevented the Guardian being bought by the Times and was able to buy the Observer

Question 13

How is the Guardian trying to stay a float in response to economic pressures?

Answer 13

their membership scheme offers certain benefits in return for donations
at the start of a journey as a supporter led organisation
“native ad units that use the voice of editorial” to ask readers if they would consider making some sort of payment to support the content they were reading- tugged on the emotional reasons to support The Guardian’s journalism, not just a transaction reason such as providing them with an app or access to events.

Question 14

What is a sign that the supporter led organisation structure is working?

Answer 14

Early signs are that this focus is working. In 2015/16, GNM made an operating loss of £57m, but cut that to £38m a year later and expects to make a loss in 2017/18 of £25m before reaching its target of breakeven in 2018/2019.

Question 15

In 2020, what percentage of the Guardian’s revenue came from its digital operations?

Answer 15

Even though The Guardian’s print operations make up a significant part of its revenue, 61 percent of the company’s income in 2020 came from its digital operations.

Question 16

How could the Guardian try to appeal to the viewers who don’t pay for content?

Answer 16

-one new strategy, more akin to crowdfunding its journalism, asks people for donations so The Guardian can focus on particular topics such as gun control in the US.
-The Guardian also wants more data on its readers. Currently just 1.5 million people have registered on the site and browse while signed in. This creates a stronger relationship and means the Guardian can more effectively target their native ads

Question 17

How does the Guardian suggest they will reach 2 million paying customers by 2022?

Answer 17

By shaping the product around the audience
Audio and video packages
Event packages - they have previously had more than 100,000 attendees at virtual events
Add free reading
Full access to the app
A regular supporter newsletter

Question 18

How many people all together supported the Guardian financially between Nov 20 and Nov 21?

Answer 18

Including print subscribers and single contributions, people have supported the Guardian financially nearly 1.6 million times in the last 12 months.

Question 19

How did the Scott Trust come about?

Answer 19

The death of CP Scott and son Ted within three months of each other in 1932 brought a very real threat to the future independence of the Guardian.
The Inland Revenue would claim full death duties, or inheritance tax, in the event of John’s death and would mean the end of the Manchester Guardian as an independent liberal newspaper.
To prevent this, John renounced all financial benefit in the business for himself and his family by transferring all the ordinary shares in the company – a stake worth more than £1 million at the time – to a group of trustees. The Scott Trust became the owner of the Manchester Guardian.

Question 20

How much was initially invested into the Guardian’s digital platforms in the first 5 years

Answer 20

In the first five years, we spent about £18m on investment in digital – with predictions we’d have to sink £30m before we could anticipate any serious returns

Question 21

Whats the difference between a member and a subscriber?

Answer 21

The distinction between a member and a subscriber is that the latter is simply agreeing to buying content, while the former is also investing time and emotional commitment to a brand because they want to belong to a group or identify with a cause. Not every media brand can command this level of commitment, but for those who can, the prize is greater loyalty and steady revenues.

Question 22

What was the purpose of the Scott Trust when founded in 1936 that remains today

Answer 22

“to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of the Guardian free from commercial or political interference.”

Question 23

How was the Guardian backed financially when first formed

Answer 23

with the financial backing of other middle-class radicals (10 put up £100 each, and an 11th contributed £50)

Question 24

How is the Guardian leading technological innovation

Answer 24

From making the Guardian the first British news organisation to employ a readers’ editor to launching an opinion site that inverted the traditional model of top-down newspaper commentary

Question 25

Why is the journalism business model starting to collapse?

Answer 25

Facebook and Google swallow digital advertising; as a result, the digital journalism produced by many news organisations has become less and less meaningful.

Question 26

How did the Guardian change in 2006?

Answer 26

It was modernised, becoming smaller with a new typeface and balanced longer pieces of journalism with shorter stories. This was done to adjust to audience reading habits: it’s likely the Guardian’s well educated audience has little time to spare so opt to read well written but less worded articles

Question 27

How did the print circulation of the Guardian change between 2011 and 2019?

Answer 27

In 2011, it had a print circulation of 279,300, but by 2019, it’s print circulation was 108,700

Question 28

What % said the Guardian was trustworthy and what % said they were untrustworthy?

Answer 28

Trustworthy: 33%
Untrustworthy: 18%

They have been labelled the most trusted news brand in the UK

Question 29

What would Curran and Seaton argue about the Guardian?

Answer 29

Their idea is somewhat refuted by the Guardian. Although it sticks to safe news values, the fact that it doesn’t enforce a paywall shows dedication to the quality of journalism

Question 30

What about the Guardian’s readership is appealing to advertisers?

Answer 30

They are well educated and have high incomes with highly skilled jobs and so will have greater spending power

Question 31

How does the Guardian make money?

Answer 31

The sale of print newspapers
Digital subscriptions
Patron support with exclusive offers
Advertising
Philanthropic partnerships