Charles Prestwich Scott, a liberal thinker with strong principles, becomes editor of the Guardian – a post he holds for 57 years.
1932
CP Scott’s death in January is followed swiftly by that of his younger son; Ted Scott is killed in a tragic boating accident in April. William Percival Crozier is appointed as editor.
1949
John Scott dies and his son Laurence Prestwich Scott becomes chairman and managing director of the company.
1959
On 24 August the newspaper changes its title from the Manchester Guardian to the Guardian, to reflect the growing importance of national and international affairs in the newspaper.
1967
Guardian Newspapers Ltd and The Manchester Evening News Ltd are formed as wholly owned subsidiary companies of The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd, each with their own board of directors.
1821 – on 5 May John Edward Taylor publishes the first Manchester Guardian as a newspaper in the liberal interest. It appears weekly on a Saturday for 7d.
1924 – John Russell Scott buys the Manchester Evening News, bringing both papers under the same ownership.
1959 – the newspaper changes its title from the Manchester Guardian to the Guardian, to reflect the growing importance of national and international affairs in the newspaper.
1967 – Guardian Newspapers Ltd and The Manchester Evening News Ltd are formed as wholly owned subsidiary companies of The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd, each with their own board of directors.
1972 – The name of the company is changed to The Guardian and Manchester Evening News Ltd (GMEN).
1973 – Sir Peter Gibbings becomes chair of the company, succeeding Laurence Scott. GMEN acquires 10% of Greater Manchester Independent Radio Limited, owners of Piccadilly Radio.
2004 – In March, digital editions of the papers launched, allowing access to articles, images and adverts as they appeared in print. In July the soulmates dating service interactive website goes live. The paper also introduces a weekly tabloid edition aimed at students and distributed throughout UK university campuses.
Top 5 events in Guardians history – in the opinion of Thian Pankhania.
1819
The Yeomanry and Hussars open fire on a peaceful reformist meeting at St Peter’s Fields, Manchester, killing an estimated 18 people and wounding hundreds. Local cotton merchant John Edward Taylor witnesses and reports on the incident, which comes to be known as the Peterloo massacre, and is left with a desire to give the liberal reformist voice a better outlet. – This was their first year in operation.
1936
Ownership of the Manchester Guardian is transferred to a trust to protect the newspaper from crippling death duties following Ted Scott’s untimely death. CP Scott’s elder son John creates the Scott Trust to ensure the independence of the newspaper and the continuance of the journalistic principles of his father. John Scott is chair of the Trust until 1948. – Ownership of guardian changed this year.
1959
On 24 August the newspaper changes its title from the Manchester Guardian to the Guardian, to reflect the growing importance of national and international affairs in the newspaper. – first name change
2006
Comment is Free is launched with the aim of providing ‘an open-ended space for debate, dispute, argument and agreement and to invite users to comment on everything they read’.
The Guardian switches to a ‘web-first’ approach to foreign and city news – posting it to the web as soon as it has been written, edited and subbed.
Sir Bob Phillis retires and is succeeded as GMG chief executive by Carolyn McCall, formerly chief executive of Guardian Newspapers Ltd. Guardian Newspapers and GMG Regional Newspapers are renamed Guardian News & Media and GMG Regional Media to reflect their multimedia nature.
GMG Radio acquires Century FM and Saga Radio. – They started to post online and via the radio.
2015
The Guardian unveils a new site for readers in the UK and across the world. (A US version launched in October 2014, Australia in November).
Katharine Viner is appointed Guardian editor-in-chief.
David Pemsel succeeds Andrew Miller as chief executive of GMG. – a new site in both UK and for the first time the USA.
in my opinion the 5 significant events for the guardian are:
2015
The Guardian unveils a new site for readers in the UK and across the world. (A US version launched in October 2014, Australia in November).
Katharine Viner is appointed Guardian editor-in-chief.
David Pemsel succeeds Andrew Miller as chief executive of GMG.
2007
GU undergoes a redesign with interactive content, images, graphics and video given greater importance.
In October the Guardian launches guardianamerica.com, a new site designed to meet the needs of the paper’s growing US audience.
GMG sells 49.9% of Trader Media Group to Apax Partners in a deal that values TMG at £1.3 billion.
2004
In March, digital editions of the papers launched, allowing access to articles, images and adverts as they appeared in print. In July the Soulmates dating service interactive website goes live. The paper also introduces a weekly tabloid edition aimed at students and distributed throughout UK university campuses.
1999
The Guardian Unlimited (GU) network of websites is launched in January. It consists of News Unlimited, Football Unlimited, Cricket Unlimited and Jobs Unlimited. By March 2001 GU has over 2.4 million unique users, making it the most popular UK newspaper website. The first official ABCe statistics in October identify GU as having 10.2 million page impressions a month.
1967
Guardian Newspapers Ltd and The Manchester Evening News Ltd are formed as wholly owned subsidiary companies of The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd, each with their own board of directors.
The market-based press is loyal to only the public. It acts as a ‘watchdog’, prepared to hold the government accountable for any wrongdoing in order to keep the public informed.
This allows the public to form opinions of their own, especially during the likes of election time. Public opinion is then issued to those in power by the press.
Autonomy allows the press to provide readers with information about the government that may not act in it’s favour, without any consequences.
Examples of ‘watchdog’ articles in the Guardian and Daily Mail:
Reductions in taxes and stamp duty allow the Manchester Guardian to publish twice-weekly; it begins to appear on Wednesdays as well as Saturdays.
1959
On 24 August the newspaper changes its title from the Manchester Guardian to the Guardian, to reflect the growing importance of national and international affairs in the newspaper.
1972
The name of the company is changed to The Guardian and Manchester Evening News Ltd (GMEN).
1988
The Guardian has a radical redesign, splitting the newspaper into two sections and introducing a new masthead. An international edition is launched in Europe.
1997
The Guardian’s investigation into Conservative MP Neil Hamilton wins the Team Reporting Award at the British Press Awards and the Guardian is named Newspaper of the Year by What the Papers Say – an award it also wins in 1998 and 1999.
The Guardian is the first national newspaper to appoint a readers’ editor and publish a daily Corrections and Clarifications column.
The Guardian and Observer election website goes live in February and football.co.uk launches in August.
Guardian Politics summary:
The newspaper is considered as part of a group called the “quality press”. This is a group of national papers that focus on hard news rather than journalism. Its “analysis” promotes the ideologies of British politics. The paper declared support for the Liberal Democrats in the 2010 election. It then switches back to the Labour Party for the 2015 election.
