TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

and media website owned by the

Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and e ...

. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service. As of November 2014, it was the second most popular online newspaper in the UK with over 17 million readers per month; with over 21 million monthly readers,

Mail Online MailOnline (also known as ''dailymail.co.uk'') is the website of the ''Daily Mail'', a newspaper in the United Kingdom, and of its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday''. MailOnline is a division of dmg media, which is owned by Daily Mail and Gene ...

was the most popular. The site is made up of a core news site, with niche sections and subsections covering subjects including sport, business, environment, technology, arts and media, and lifestyle. TheGuardian.com is notable for its engagement with readers, including long-running talkboards and, more recently, a network of weblogs. Its seven blogs were joined on 14 March 2006, by a new comment section, "Comment is free", which has since merged into its Opinion section. The site can be viewed without cost or registration, though some services such as leaving comments on articles require users to register. In March 2009, Guardian.co.uk launched their

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standa ...

, using the

OAuth OAuth (short for "Open Authorization") is an open standard for access delegation, commonly used as a way for internet users to grant websites or applications access to their information on other websites but without giving them the passwords. T ...

protocol and making a wide range of ''Guardian'' content available for use by

web application A web application (or web app) is application software that is accessed using a web browser. Web applications are delivered on the World Wide Web to users with an active network connection. History In earlier computing models like client-serve ...

developers.

Ownership

TheGuardian.com is part of the

of newspapers, radio stations, and new media, including ''

'' daily newspaper and ''

'' Sunday newspaper. Guardian Media Group is owned by the

Scott Trust Scott Trust Limited is the British company that owns Guardian Media Group and thus ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'' as well as various other media businesses in the UK. In 2008, it replaced the Scott Trust, which had owned ''The Guardian'' s ...

, a charitable foundation which aims to ensure the newspaper's editorial independence in perpetuity, maintaining its financial health to ensure it does not become vulnerable to takeover by for-profit media groups, and the serious compromise of editorial independence that this often brings.

History

Guardian.co.uk was launched in 1999, born of the Guardian New Media Lab. Its popularity soared after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in the United States in 2001, largely thanks to the diverse range of viewpoints published in ''The Guardian'' newspaper. The website won the Best Newspaper category in the 2005, 2006 and 2007

Webby Awards The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...

, beating the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''. In 2006, Guardian.co.uk reported its first profitable year, with income coming mostly from recruitment and display advertising. In May 2007, guardian.co.uk begun an 18-month programme of redesigning and adding features to the entire website, starting with the travel section, then moving through the rest of the site and the front page, finally updating the blogging and community features. On 30 July 2013, the website was moved from guardian.co.uk to theguardian.com as part of increasing investments to grow globally. In 2018 TheGuardian.com joined with competitors

News UK News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

(''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', '' The Sun'') and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' to create a joint platform for advertisers to buy online adverts across the multiple leading news websites, called The Ozone Project. Later in the year Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror) joined the platform, bringing nearly all of UK's national newspapers onto the platform.

Subsites and related online publications

Guardian Sport

The ''Guardian'''s Sport section has made the online transition into a popular and well-respected website, providing news, results, match reports, and live commentaries from a host of different sports. TheGuardian.com's sports coverage has been pioneering in the online newspaper industry in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in offering live coverage of sports, especially

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, over the Web. Examples include live text commentaries of 115

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

football matches and every

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

match, as well as some live coverage of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, Champions League,

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, and the occasional

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, and playoff games.

"The Fiver"

"The Fiver" is a daily, mostly humorous football newsletter, available in the Sport section or via email newsletter, delivered to opt-in subscribers' inboxes at (approximately) 5 pm Guardian Standard Time, Monday to Friday (hence the name "Fiver"). It does not appear in the print edition of ''The Guardian'' newspaper. "The Fiver" enjoys a worldwide following. ''Fiver'' writers include Paul Doyle and

Barry Glendenning Barry Glendenning (born 12 March 1973) is an Irish sports journalist who holds the position of deputy sports editor on the ''guardian.co.uk'' website run by UK newspaper ''The Guardian''. Glendenning was born in Birr, County Offaly and atten ...

and are drawn from the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' sportswriting staff.

"Comment is free"

"Comment is free" (abbreviated Cif) was a comment and political opinion section within TheGuardian.com. It contained comment and opinion pieces from ''

'' and ''

'' newspapers, plus contributions from more than 600 other writers. The section was edited by Natalie Hanman; its sub-site devoted to religious affairs, "Cif belief", was edited by Andrew Brown. It was launched on 14 March 2006, with

Georgina Henry Georgina Clare Henry (8 June 1960 – 7 February 2014)Alan Rusbridger"Obituary: Georgina Henry" ''The Guardian'', 7 February 2014. was a British journalist. Associated with ''The Guardian'' newspaper for 25 years from 1989 until her death in 201 ...

as launch editor. The original technical design and build was by

Ben Hammersley Ben Hammersley FRSA FRGS (born 3 April 1976) is a British technologist, strategic foresight consultant, futurist, keynote speaker, broadcaster and systems developer, based in New York City. He specializes on Adaptive Futurism and Cognitive Ris ...

, based on the

Movable Type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuatio ...

blogging platform. Latterly, Cif ran on a custom ''Guardian''-made system, using

Pluck Pluck or plucking may refer to: Removal * Plucking (hair removal), the removal of hair, fur, or feathers * Feather-plucking, a behavior in birds * Plucking post, as used by birds of prey to dismember their prey * Plucking (glaciation), a proces ...

for the commenting. The site's name was derived from a sentence in a famous essay written by veteran ''Guardian'' editor

C. P. Scott Charles Prestwich Scott (26 October 1846 – 1 January 1932), usually cited as C. P. Scott, was a British journalist, publisher and politician. Born in Bath, Somerset, he was the editor of the ''Manchester Guardian'' (now ''the Guardian'') ...

: "Comment is free, but facts are sacred." The site strictly enforced its talk policy by moderating comments after posting. For particularly sensitive topics, comments may be moderated before posting.guardian.co.uk, 7 May 2009
Frequently asked questions about community on guardian.co.uk
accessed 28 July 2011. Moderators could remove posts that violated the site's Community Standards (usually leaving a marker of the removal), but did not edit them. "Comment is free" has merged with TheGuardian.com's "Opinion" section, starting in late 2014 with the US edition, and concluding in early 2015 with the UK edition. It no longer uses the "Comment is free" title, though commentisfree remains in its URL.

''Guardian America''

''Guardian America'' was an American version of the British news website ''Guardian Unlimited''. The strategy, intended to win more U.S.-based readers, was abandoned in October 2009. Much of the content on ''Guardian America'' was taken from ''Guardian Unlimited'' and ''The Guardian,'' although some content was produced specifically for ''Guardian America.'' ''

Guardian US ''Guardian US'' is the Manhattan-based American online presence of the British print newspaper ''The Guardian''. It launched in September 2011, led by editor-in-chief Janine Gibson, and followed the earlier ''Guardian America'' service, which was ...

,'' launched in September 2011, is ''The Guardian'''s New York City-based American online presence. GuardianAmerica.com now redirects to ''The Guardians United States topic page.

Tor network version

In May 2022 the Guardian launched an

.onion .onion is a special-use top level domain name designating an anonymous onion service, which was formerly known as a "hidden service", reachable via the Tor network. Such addresses are not actual DNS names, and the .onion TLD is not in the I ...

version of its website on the

Tor network Tor, short for The Onion Router, is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more than seven thousand relays, to conc ...

, with assistence from

Alec Muffett Alec David Edward Muffett (born April 22, 1968) is an Anglo-American internet security evangelist, architect, and software engineer. His work includes Crack, the original Unix password cracker, and for the CrackLib password-integrity testing li ...

Readership

TheGuardian.com is one of the UK's leading online newspapers. It became the first UK newspaper to attract more than 25 million

unique users Website popularity is commonly determined using the number of unique users, and the metric is often quoted to potential advertisers or investors. A website's number of unique users is usually measured over a standard period of time, typically a m ...

in a month (October 2008). On 7 July 2005, following the

London bombings London attack may refer to any of the following attacks that have occurred within London, London metropolitan area, City of London, Lundenwic, Londinium, or County of London: ;Actuated attacks * List of terrorist incidents in London ** 1973 Old Ba ...

, 1.3 million unique users visited the site and a total of 7.8 million pages were viewed, at the time a record for guardian.co.uk. As of August 2010 it was the second-most popular UK newspaper website after

, getting almost 34.6 million unique users monthly, and 13.7 million unique British users monthly. By May 2011 it reached 2.8m unique visitors per day, and 51.3m per month, behind the MailOnline's 4.4m and 77.3m. As of May 2013, using National Readership Survey and comScore's statistics, it was the most popular UK newspaper website with 8.2m unique visitors per month, ahead of

with 7.6m unique monthly visitors.

Awards

British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by ''The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named '' ...

:''

Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British media trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500, before becoming online-only in 2013. Publis ...

'', , accessed 27 July 2011, ** "Digital Innovation of the Year" (2008, 2009) ** "Digital Journalist of the Year" (Sean Smith, 2008;

Dave Hill David John Hill (born 4 April 1946) is an English rock musician. He is the lead guitarist, a backing vocalist and the sole continuous member in the English band Slade. Hill is known for his flamboyant stage clothes and hairstyle. Early life B ...

, 2009) The awards were created in 2008. Moreover, the 2011 award of "Political Journalist of the Year" to ''

Andrew Sparrow Andrew Sparrow is a British journalist and member of the Lobby – the political journalists with privileged access to the Members' Lobby of the House of Commons. He writes a live blog for ''The Guardian'', for which he was nominated for the Orwe ...

"was significant because it was a recognition of the impact of his general election live blog – a reward for innovation as well as reporting." In 2009 it was nominated for (but did not win) a

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...

for "Best Copy/Writing". However, the subsite Cif belief was nominated for and won, the Webby in the best religion and spirituality site category.

References

External links

*
theguardian.com blogs

Comment is Free
{{DEFAULTSORT:guardian.com British news websites Guardian Media Group Publications established in 1999 The Guardian The Observer 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom English-language websites