Open door

The readers' editor on ... the Guardian's green and global mission

Siobhain Butterworth

The Guardian, Monday November 17 2008

Always publishing, less parochial, more focused on the environment, and expansive in new media. That's the message in the annual sustainability report of Guardian News & Media (GNM), published today.
Living Our Values is an independently audited account of the Guardian and Observer's editorial, commercial and operational activities. How does a news organisation make the transition from UK print publishing to 24/7, international multimedia news, and stay in touch with its roots? The report describes the company's reorganisation for the digital age.
A "radical integration" of journalists working for the Guardian, the Observer and guardian.co.uk means that by the time the company moves to its new eco-office in King's Cross at the end of the year, cross-functional journalists will produce content for all three platforms.
The new system was tested during the Beijing Olympics, when all 20 Guardian and Observer journalists reporting from China worked for both newspapers and the website, which resulted in 50m hits in one week for the website; 90% of stories went on to the web first.
The Guardian's ambition is to be "the world's leading liberal voice", says the report. There are nearly as many online users from the US (8.4 million) each month as there are from the UK (8.8 million) and this year Guardian America was set up to provide news tailored for the US audience.
The company's environmental ambition is to go further than being carbon-neutral - it wants to become carbon-positive. "Our sustainability vision goes beyond our offices and print sites to embrace editorial, commercial and community activity, as well as taking our supply chain into account," the report says. Editorially the plan is to explore subjects like climate change, environmental degradation and social inequality "from social, economic, political and scientific perspectives, both nationally and globally".
Living Our Values is up front about the contradictions between editorial and advertising. Guardian columnist George Monbiot has criticised the paper's refusal to ban ads that "make the destruction of the biosphere seem socially acceptable". The report says: "Our role is neither to hector our readers nor to censor on their behalf. Our editorial coverage informs and influences their choices."
The report says that readers are more concerned about social justice than climate change. The annual reader survey of around 3,500 readers asked whether the company should refuse to carry certain types of advertising. There were more objections to ads for fashion brands that use cheap labour (60% of Guardian readers and 41% of web users) than to ads for high-emission cars (40% of Guardian readers and 29% of web users), and even fewer objections to ads for budget airlines (11% of Guardian readers and 10% of web users). Alan Rusbridger, editor in chief of the Guardian and Observer, says: "As long as the journalism is free and we allow George Monbiot to criticise us, and we feel free to criticise the people who advertise - that is more important than advertising."
Ownership by the Scott Trust puts GNM in a privileged position. It has to be "profit-seeking, efficient and cost-effective", but it is also "values-driven, not profit-driven", says the report. One of the benefits Rusbridger points out is being able to "offer coverage that goes beyond the parochial ... reporting the world by being out in the world" at a time when others are closing their foreign bureaux.
Asked by the Scott Trust to restate its values for the online era, Rusbridger wrote that the trust exists to preserve the Guardian and its journalistic traditions in perpetuity. "In the absence of a proprietor, our journalists' main relationships are with our colleagues and with readers, viewers or listeners. There should be a high premium on transparency, collaboration and discussion," he said. "At the same time we should allow plurality of opinion ... the papers should promote minority views as well as mainstream argument and should encourage dissent."
• To read Living Our Values go to guardian.co.uk/sustainability