 The Guardian Weekly (15 February 2019) | |
| Type | Weekly news magazine |
|---|---|
| Format | News magazine from 12 October 2018. |
| Owner | Guardian Media Group |
| Editor | Graham Snowdon |
| Founded | 4 July 1919; 106 years ago (4 July 1919) |
| Political alignment | Centre-left |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Kings Place, London, England |
| Sister newspapers | The Guardian, The Observer |
| ISSN | 0959-3608 |
| Website | theguardian |
The Guardian Weekly is an internationalEnglish-languagenews magazine based in London, England. It is one of the world's oldest international news publications and has readers in more than 170 countries.[1] Editorial content is drawn from its sister publication, the British daily newspaperThe Guardian, both of which are published and owned by theGuardian Media Group.[2] It also contained content from the Sunday newspaperThe Observer,[3] until it was sold toTortoise Media which took control on 22 April 2025.[4]
The Guardian Weekly is currently edited by Graham Snowdon.[1][2]
The first edition of theManchester Guardian Weekly was printed on 4 July 1919,[5] a week after the signing of theTreaty of Versailles. TheManchester Guardian viewed itself as a leading liberal voice and wanted to extend its reach, particularly in theUnited States, in the changing political climate after theFirst World War.The Weekly had the stated aim of "presenting what is best and most interesting in theManchester Guardian, what is most distinctive and independent of time, in a compact weekly form".[1] The initial reception was good. Before long theManchester Guardian could boast "there is scarcely a corner of the civilised world to which it is not being posted regularly", although the newspaper was banned inNazi Germany[6] for a time.
For a large part of its early life the newspaper was ahalf-broadsheet format. Initially the notion of ‘the best of theGuardian’ meant a weighty opinion piece for the front page. It evolved, under the editorship of John Perkin,[7] in 1969, to include the use of pictures on the front page.
In 1971, the English edition of the French daily newspaperLe Monde folded and theWeekly took on its 12,000-strong subscription list as well as four pages ofLe Monde copy. A content deal was made withThe Washington Post in 1975. Dedicated pages from both publications augmentedGuardian articles until a redesign in 1993, under new editor Patrick Ensor, led to their articles appearing across theWeekly. In the same year, content fromThe Observer[3] began to appear after the UK Sunday title was purchased by Guardian Media Group.[8]
Around this time theWeekly relocated fromCheadle, to the south of Manchester, to join the rest of theGuardian in London.[9] This move afforded theWeekly better access to editors, leader writers and news features. In 1991, technological advances enabled the first transmission by modem of pages to an Australian print site. Under Ensor's editorship, the paper began to be produced using the desktop publishing programQuark XPress. It became atabloid-sized publication; then, in 2005, when the dailyGuardian newspaper converted from a broadsheet to the smaller,Berliner format,[10] theGuardian Weekly shrank to a half-Berliner while increasing pagination to its now-standard 48 pages. Full-colour printing was also introduced. By the end of Ensor's editorship, curtailed by his death from cancer in 2007,[11] more advances in technology meant that evenWeekly readers in the most remote locations were able to access the internet.
The appointment of AustralianNatalie Bennett[12] as Ensor's successor coincided with theGuardian’s move to a digital-first publishing strategy. Breaking news stories were now launched on theGuardian's fast-growing website, rather than held back to meet print deadlines. In 2007 a digital edition[13] of theGuardian Weekly was created, an editor's blog[14] was added and a presence on social media sitesFacebook[15] andTwitter[16] came soon after. During her editorship, Bennett emphasised the need for theWeekly’s agenda to be truly global and increased its coverage of environmental issues and the developing world. Her passion for environmental politics led to her departure from the paper in 2012. She would go on to become the leader of theGreen Party of England and Wales until 2016.[17]
The Guardian Weekly’s evolution continued under Abby Deveney,[18] a newspaper, newswire and web editor with more than three decades of international experience living and working in North America, Asia and Europe. Under Canadian Deveney, theWeekly embraced long-form journalism, with a greater emphasis on insightful writing, deep analysis and lively features that showcase a well-rounded world view. Reportage of global themes and trends now features on the front page, while the back page is a stage for theGuardian’s influential opinion writers. Her global experience ensures thatthe Weekly never comes from one geographical perspective. This aim has been aided by the launch in 2011 of aGuardian US website, edited from New York City, followed two years later by a Sydney-basedGuardian Australia site, which greatly increased the Weekly’s coverage opportunities in these key territories.
Deveney left the editorship in 2017 and was eventually replaced by Will Dean in April 2018. Graham Snowdon took over as editor in November 2023.
The Guardian Weekly was re-designed in October 2018 as a glossy magazine.[19] It was announced that the circulation of the magazine would increase, and three different editions would be published: International, North American, and Australian.[20] A European edition was added in 2024.
The title is printed at sites in theUK,Poland,Australia,New Zealand and theUnited States in a full-colour news magazine format. The standard publication runs to 64 pages since its change of format (from a newspaper) on 12 October 2018.
Britain, Australia, the United States andCanada are theGuardian Weekly’s top markets, followed byNew Zealand,France andGermany. With a following in more than 170 countries,[1] theWeekly’s audience is spread around the world.[21]
Surveys reveal that some 60% of subscribers had taken the paper for more than a decade. Readership tends towards a well-educated demographic. The typical reader is aged over 45, educated to at least degree level and either working in or retired from education, with a 59-41 male-female split.[1]
Readers say typical reasons for subscribing include: a family habit of taking theManchester Guardian; a spell working abroad in development or teaching; and retirement or emigration (often to Australia, New Zealand or North America). Others often report their route to initiation into theGuardian Weekly family came by having a copy passed along to them in a workplace or during a secondment.
The paper's readers include many world statesmen, includingNelson Mandela, who subscribed during his time in prison and described the paper as his "window on the wider world".[22]George W. Bush was reportedly the firstPresident of the United States sinceJimmy Carter not to subscribe to theGuardian Weekly, breaking tradition withRonald Reagan,George H. W. Bush andBill Clinton.[23]
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