Newspapers are in crisis—yet they have greater reach than ever before. And nowhere is this truer than at the Guardian, the paper that revealed the phone-hacking scandal. Tim de Lisle follows its triumphs and tribulations and talks to its editor...
In terms of reach and impact, the Guardian is doing better than
ever before. But its success may contain the seeds of its demise. Its
print circulation is tumbling. In October 2005, boosted by a change to
the medium-sized Berliner format, the average daily circulation was
403,297. By March 2012 it was down to 217,190. Saturday sales remain sturdy, at
377,000, but, on a typical weekday, only 178,000 people buy the Guardian,
while millions graze on it for nothing on their screens. In the
financial year 2009-10, the national newspapers division of Guardian
Media Group—which also includes the Observer, Britain’s oldest
Sunday paper—lost £37m. The following year, it managed to cut costs by
£26m, and still ended up losing £38m. In May, Rusbridger told me he was
expecting a similar loss for 2011-12. So, for three years running, the Guardian has been losing £100,000 a day. This is not boom or bust, but both at once: the best of times, and the worst of times.
