Alan Rusbridger is to stepping down as editor-in-chief of The Guardian after 20 years, leaving the news organisation to become the chair of its owner, the Scott Trust.
He will stand down next year after his successor is appointed and will replace Liz Forgan in 2016 at the end of her term as the chair of the trust, the body that safeguards the title’s editorial future and independence.
Rusbridger said in an announcement: “In global journalism, there are a handful of roles that have the capability to redefine our industry. I am privileged to have held one of those roles for 20 years, a period in which successful newspapers have become global content providers, reaching audiences in dramatically new and valuable ways.
“I am honoured to succeed the quite brilliant Liz Forgan as chair of the Scott Trust, preserving the independent editorial values and the long-term financial stability upon which our future depends. We have strong future leaders in place with unparalleled news and digital experience, and I know that our journalism will be in the best possible hands.”
Rusbridger has been in Australia this week presenting the first Australian Guardian Live event. At the event he talked about the importance of independent journalism and how it's a journalist's role to stand separate from the state.
“We as journalists stand independent from power, we stand independent from power in order to look at it and question it,” Rusbridger said at the event.
“We stand for responsible disclosure, not secretary and if we can’t understand that relationship with power, that we stand aside from it, then we're in trouble.”
Earlier this year, The Guardian was awarded the highest accolade in US journalism, the Pulitzer prize for public service, for its exposure of the surveillance activities of the US National Security Agency, following the leaks of Edward Snowden. It was also named newspaper of the year and website of the year at the UK Press Awards.
Under Rusbridger’s editorship, The Guardian has been transformed from a British newspaper into a global voice, with one of the most-read English language news websites in the world. In October theguardian.com had 111.5 million unique browsers globally.
Rusbridger said: “It’s been quite an extraordinary period in the life of The Guardian. In February 1995 newspaper websites were, if they existed at all, exotic things: we were still four years off launching Guardian Unlimited. Since 1999 we’ve grown to overtake all others to become the most-read serious English language digital newspaper in the world.
“Each editor is told – this is literally the only instruction – to carry The Guardian on ‘as heretofore’. That means understanding the spirit, culture and purpose of the paper and interpreting it for the present. All that is only possible because of the unique Scott Trust, set up in 1936 to ensure the Guardian survives in perpetuity.”
As chair of the Scott Trust Rusbridger will continue to play a pivotal role in ensuring the perpetuity of Guardian journalism.
Forgan said: “Alan has been the outstanding editor of his generation. Fully embracing the opportunities of the digital age, he has built on the best traditions of his distinguished predecessors, transforming The Guardian from a print-only national newspaper into the world’s leading quality newspaper website.
Rusbridger, will be 61 at the end of this month, joined the paper in 1979 from the Cambridge Evening News. He left to be television critic of the Observer and Washington editor of the shortlived London Daily News, before returning to The Guardian.
He launched Guardian Weekend and the G2 features section before becoming editor. As editor, he changed the newspaper changed from a broadsheet to its Berliner format.
Succeeding Peter Preston in 1995, he became only the 10th editor of the title since its foundation as the Manchester Guardian in 1821. The process by which the Scott Trust will appoint the new editor-in-chief will be announced in due course. Before Forgan, the late Hugo Young, the distinguished columnist, had been chair of the trust.
For more news:
The Guardian Australia kicks off Guardian live with Snowden discussion
The Guardian shakes up web layout, revamps ad offering
Guardian chief blasts Aussie dinosaurs
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