The Guardian is a
British newspaper owned by the
Guardian Media Group. It is published Monday to Saturday in the
Berliner format. 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 (to distinguish it from
other newspapers with similar names), although it has been based in
London since 1964 (with printing facilities in both
Manchester and
London).
Today The Guardian is the only British
national Newspaper to publish in full colour (although the edition for
Northern Ireland still has much black-and-white content
<2>); it was also the first newspaper in the UK to be printed on the
Berliner size. In November 2005 The Guardian had a certified average
daily circulation of 378,618 copies (November 2005), as compared to sales of 904,955 for the
Daily Telegraph, 692,581 for
The Times, and 261,193 for
The Independent<3>. The paper is sometimes known as "The Grauniad" (coined by
Private Eye), as a result of frequent typesetting errors for which it became infamous in the era before computer typesetting (the joke is that it misspelled its own name in the masthead, though this never actually happened).
It has been awarded the National Newspaper of the Year in 1999 and 2006 by the
British Press Awards, as well as being co-winner of the World's Best-designed Newspaper as awarded by the Society for News Design (2006). The
Guardian Unlimited website won the
Best Newspaper category two years running in the 2005 and 2006
Webby Awards, beating (in 2005) the
New York Times, the
Washington Post, the
Wall Street Journal and
Variety<4>. It has been the winner for six years in a row of the
British Newspaper Awards for Best Electronic daily Newspaper.<5> The site won an Eppy award from the US-based magazine Editor & Publisher in 2000 for the best-designed newspaper online service <6>. The website is well-known and recognised for its commentary on sporting events, particularly its over-by-over cricket commentary.
The Guardian has been consistently loss-making. The National Newspaper division of GMG, which also includes The Observer, reported operating losses of £49.9m in 2006, up from ¤18.6m in 2005<7>. The paper is therefore heavily dependent on cross-subsidisation from profitable companies within the group, including Auto Trader and the Manchester Evening News.
London's Multicultural Experience
Being one of the largest and most populated cities of Europe, London, the United Kingdom’s capital is a cosmopolitan area in which a highly diverse range of peoples, cultures and religions coexist today. According to a Guardian newspaper editorial, “London in 2005 can lay claim to being the most diverse city ever.” With more than 300 different languages spoken in London’s streets by its permanent residents, such a claim seems at least reasonable.
During my last London visit, I was astonished by the multicultural experience a tourist like me could have, just by visiting different.
More reviews about the The Guardian