THE GUARDIAN- INDUSTRY CONTEXT

Question 1

What is the Guardian?

Answer 1

• British Broadsheet Newspaper.
• Part of the GMG group

Question 2

Who owns The Guardian?

Answer 2

• Owned by Scott’s Trust (parent company of GMG and Media LTD)

Question 3

GMG?

Answer 3

• Gurdian Media Group (owns the Guardian/ The Observer)

Question 4

Why was the Scott’s Trust founded? What was its main intention?

Answer 4

• Founded to ensure NO single ownser could BUY and SECURE the paper.
  1) Safeguard the Guardian from commercial/ political interference.
  2) Protect the papers values (honesty, fairness, liberal investigative journalism)

Question 5

How is the Guardian funded?

Answer 5

1. Voluntary reader donations.
2. Membership
3. Adveritising
4. Scott Trust endowment fund
5. Guardian.org

(previously relied on middle-class radicals financial
* support)

Question 6

What is the Scott Trust endowment fund?

Answer 6

• Fund- focuses on socially responsible investments-
• profit from these investments supports the paper.

Question 7

What is Guardian.org?

Answer 7

• Non-profit org
• Set up by the trust to raise funds from groups and private donor.

(Bill Gates dontates to the paper- shared values)

Question 8

What economic challenges has The Guardian faced in recent years?

Answer 8

1. Decline in print advertising revenue
2. Rise of digital platforms like social media for news consumption.
3. Increased reliance on digital subscriptions

Question 9

How did The Guardian’s format change in 2018 and what was its impact?

Answer 9

• Transitioned from a European-sized Berliner format to a tabloid format.
• Helped reduce the paper’s operating costs by £19.1 million
  (a crucial step in adapting to economic pressures)

Question 10

How has The Guardian adapted to the digital era?

Answer 10

• Strong online presence- operating a major digital version of the newspaper.
• Digital content= free to access and follows a buisness model that relies on donations, subscriptions and ad revenues.

Question 11

What is the extent of The Guardian’s online presence?

Answer 11

• Strong online presence (website, mobile apps, social media platforms)
• Popularity- millions of visits per month/ large global audience.
• Appealing presence- interactive features, podcasts, video content, multimedia storytelling)

effect- engages digitally savy + young audiences and offsets decline in print revenue.

Question 12

How is the Guardians economic/ ownsership model compare to other UK newspapers?

Answer 12

• Ownership- no sole ownsership/owned via trust.
• Has a 2.8% share in Uk’s print news market vs DM’s 25% share.
  = facilitates editorial freedom (drom shareholders/advertisers) but challenges profitability

Question 13

Politics?

Answer 13

• Left-leaning (center left)
• Often supports labour/ Green policies.
• Progessive editorial stance/ investigative journalism
  = strong brand idenity/ maintains loyal readership.

Question 14

The Daily Mail has a … share in the Uk’s print news market?

Answer 14

Has a 2.8% share in Uk’s print news market vs DM’s 25% share.