The Guardian today revealed a new url for the US – guardiannews.com – marking the start of its digital operation in New York.
The new venture – headed up by Janine Gibson, formerly editor of theguardian.com – will create a hub for Guardian readers in the US, combining the innovation and energy of a start-up with ground-breaking journalism and the backing of the Guardian brand.
Gibson said: "The site will be a gradual build which will allow us to monitor audiences and grow according to behaviour and what our users want – we're starting small but thinking big. It's fantastic to know that we will have the freedom to innovate and experiment with new forms of digital journalism with the full support of the Guardian brand behind us."
Gibson added that the Guardian had pioneered open, internationalist, digital journalism – both real-time and long-form – and that she believed there was increasing demand for more among US audiences.
The new digital operation gets underway after publisher Guardian News & Media recently announced it would become a "digital-first" organisation. The Guardian has championed the "open" model of journalism which is collaborative in nature and encourages the development of global partnerships and networks. It has consistently led the way on digital innovation and is showing year-on-year traffic growth of 40 per cent. It has built a large US audience (more than 10 million unique users: Comscore August 2011) with agenda-setting journalism such as its exposure of the phone-hacking scandal, the collaboration with WikiLeaks and its minute-by-minute reporting of events in the Middle East.
Gibson said that Robert Mackey, formerly of the New York Times, will be joining the Guardian team this autumn as a reporter and blogger. She said: "We're delighted that Rob is joining guardiannews.com. He has tremendous journalistic talent and has pioneered the live-blogging experience for millions of readers over the years." Gibson added that further hiring would take place over the coming months.
Ends
Notes to editors
Biographical details – Janine Gibson
Janine Gibson began her journalistic career working for the monthly TV trade magazine, Televisual, first as staff writer, then news editor and finally deputy editor. She joined the weekly trade magazine Broadcast in July 1997 as international editor and moved to the Independent as media correspondent a year later. In 1998 she joined the Guardian as media correspondent. In March 2000, she was appointed editor of the market-leading MediaGuardian and launch-edited the section's spin off website mediatheguardian.com which quickly established itself as the breaking news source for the media industry. In 2003 she became responsible for the Guardian's weekly G3 specialist sections. In Feb 2007 she moved back to the website as executive editor, becoming editor of theguardian.com in November 2008.
The Guardian's owner: the Scott Trust
The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust, which was created in 1936 to safeguard the title's journalistic freedom. In 2008 the Scott Trust became a limited company, with the same protections for the Guardian enshrined in its constitution. The core purpose of the Trust is to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity. Profits generated by Guardian Media Group (GMG) are reinvested to sustain journalism that is free from commercial or political interference. No individual can benefit financially from being a shareholder in the Trust, making it a unique form of media ownership.
Guardian News & Media (GNM) publishes theguardian.com, one of the world's leading news websites, and the Guardian and Observer newspapers. GNM is the core business of GMG, whose sole shareholder is the Scott Trust. GMG has a portfolio of investments, including an investment fund, a majority share in Auto Trader publisher Trader Media Group and a minority share in business-to-business media group Emap, which provide financial stability for the core business.
Facts and stats
The Guardian has an audience of more than 10 million unique users in the US (source: Comscore August 2011) and is targeting further growth in users and advertising revenues.
The Guardian was named Newspaper of the Year at the 2011 Press Awards.
Latest figures show the Guardian's iPhone app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times and has generated 86,000 active subscriptions since relaunching in January. In the US, where the app is free and ad-funded, it has been downloaded over 50,000 times.
theguardian.com has seen access from mobile devices more than double in the last year to reach over 10% of its total traffic. The Guardian has recently released its first app for Android.
The Guardian recently celebrated its 190th birthday:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/interactive/2011/may/16/moments-that-made-guardian-interactive.
For further information please contact:
Guardian News & Media press office, +44 (0)20 3353 2219 or email media.enquiries.usa@guardiannews.com