Katharine Viner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Katharine Sophie Viner January 1971 (1971-01) (age 54) |
| Education | Ripon Grammar School |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA)[1] |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Employer | The Guardian |
| Spouse | |
| Website | www |
Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971)[2][3] is aBritish journalist and playwright. She became the first female editor-in-chief atThe Guardian on 1 June 2015, succeedingAlan Rusbridger.[4][5] Viner previously headedThe Guardian's web operations inAustralia and theUnited States, before being selected for theeditor-in-chief's position.[6][7]
Viner was raised inYorkshire, the daughter of teachers and she attendedRipon Grammar School[2][8] where she became headgirl.[9] Her grandfather, Vic Viner, was an able seaman involved in theDunkirk evacuation.[10][11] As a teenager, she joined theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and theAnti-Apartheid Movement, the nearest groups were 25 miles away, and readSpare Rib.[2] Her first newspaper article, published inThe Guardian in 1987 while she was still in school, was on the ending of theO-level examinations, which were being replaced in the UK by theGeneral Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE).[12] "Cramming five years of knowledge into two and a half hours does not seem to be a fair system," she wrote.[9] Around 1988, Viner had a period of work experience at theRipon Gazette, her local newspaper.[13][14]
AfterA-levels Viner studied English at theUniversity of Oxford as an undergraduate student atPembroke College, Oxford.[9] Just before her finals, Viner won a competition organised byThe Guardian'swomen's page and was advised by Louise Chunn, thenGuardian women's editor, to pursue a career injournalism. "I honestly thought journalism wasn't for me, I thought it was for men in suits in London," she remembered in 2005.[15] During her 20s, Viner spent most of her holidays in theMiddle East, a region in which she has a particular interest, spending time inLebanon,Syria,Israel,West Bank and other locations.[15]
For work experience, Viner joinedCosmopolitan, a women's monthly magazine. The magazine retained her afterwards and she became features assistant, then news and careers editor;[15] earlier, she had won another student competition involving a submission to the magazine.[16] After three years atThe Sunday Times, working as a commissioning editor and writer for its magazine.[15] Viner joinedThe Guardian in 1997. Following a period on the staff of the women's page, she became editor of the SaturdayWeekend supplement in 1998. She became features editor in 2006[17] and deputy editor in 2008 at the same time asIan Katz.[18] Viner edited the Saturday edition ofThe Guardian from 2008 to 2012.[12]
Laura Slattery inThe Irish Times, reviewing Viner's career up to March 2015, noted that she "has almost always been the person who does the commissioning, [rather than] provided the byline".[19] SeveralGuardian pieces by Viner published during this period are reprinted in an anthology drawn from theGuardian archive entitledWomen of the Revolution: Forty Years of Feminism (2010), edited byKira Cochrane.[20]
In January 2013, Viner's relocation to Sydney to supervise a newGuardian digital edition in Australia was announced;[21] this venture was launched in May 2013.[22]
Viner delivered the A. N. Smith Lecture in Journalism at theUniversity of Melbourne in October 2013.[23][24]D. D. Guttenplan, London correspondent of the AmericanNation magazine, wrote in March 2015 that "there is no one on either side of theAtlantic Ocean who has thought as deeply as Viner about the relationship between readers, technology and the future of journalism."[25] Guttenplan was not totally convinced by Viner's "eagerness to transcend print" in the move to digital media, but commenting about her 2013 speech in Australia, he wrote that "her arguments for the importance of reader engagement, and for sustained, original reporting of information that someone, somewhere, wants to keep secret are compelling and convincing."[25]
In the summer of 2014, Viner moved to New York City and became the new head ofThe Guardian's American website in succession toJanine Gibson while remaining deputy editor of Guardian News & Media.[22][26] While based in New York, Viner expandedGuardian US's coverage from a limited range of subjects, into areas such as the arts and sport; she also increased US staffing.[27]
In March 2015, Viner won a majority in the ballot ofGuardian andObserver editorial staff as the favoured successor ofAlan Rusbridger asThe Guardian's editor-in-chief. Viner received 53% of first-choice votes from the 964 staff who participated, and was thus shortlisted for selection.[28] Former deputy editor and rival,[29]Ian Katz (editor of the BBC'sNewsnight television programme 2013-2017), was also on the final short list of two.[30]
Viner was appointed editor-in-chief on 20 March 2015, the first woman to be the editor ofThe Guardian in its 194-year history,[5] and assumed her new post on 1 June 2015.[4][31] She announced her intention to make the "media organisation" a "home for the most ambitious journalism, ideas and events" which is able to reach "out to readers all around the world."[5][32]
In a column atUSA Today, author and formerGuardian columnistMichael Wolff suggested that another of Viner's rivals to succeed Rusbridger,Janine Gibson, suffered because of internal disquiet over the internal impact onThe Guardian of theEdward Snowden revelations which Gibson edited in New York. Wolff said Gibson aligned herself with Snowden, promising more of the same, while Viner "pitched decidedly against Gibson and, in a sense, against Snowden".[33]Peter Wilby, writing in theNew Statesman, preferred a different explanation: "Viner is a more charming, more inclusive and less threatening figure than Janine Gibson, who started as the bookies’ and Rusbridger's favourite."[34]
In March 2016, Viner andGuardian News and Media chief executive David Pemsel announced cost-cutting measures, leading to the projected loss of 250 jobs, to reduce unsustainable losses in order to break even within three years. The following month,The Times reported internal tensions within the organisation as Rusbridger prepared to become Chairman of theScott Trust, the ultimate overseer to ensureThe Guardian survives "in perpetuity". Rusbridger's expansion of the company's operations was reportedly seen by staff as responsible for the decisions which Viner and Pemsel have made.[35] Viner and David Pemsel successfully opposed Rusbridger becoming Chair of the Scott Trust Ltd and he dropped plans to take up the post.[36]
Appeals to readers for donations have been successful. "We now get about the same amount of money from membership and paying readers as we do from advertising", Viner told theFinancial Times in May 2017.[37] By the timeThe Guardian and sister titleThe Observer relaunched as a tabloid in January 2018, part of the cost-cutting exercise,[38][39] revenue from readers exceeded advertising and the group expects to break even in 2018/19, for the first time since the 1980s, rather than continue to sustain heavy losses.[39][40] As of 2018 this approach was considered successful, having brought more than 1 million subscriptions or donations, with the paper hoping to break even by April 2019.[41] Industry specialists consulted by theFinancial Times have continued to doubt whether the donation and membership model is financially viable in the long term.[37]
In May 2021The Daily Telegraph reported that there was serious conflict between Viner and chief executive of The Guardian Media GroupAnnette Thomas about finances and the direction the newspaper should take. The previous yearThe Guardian announced 180 job cuts. Thomas had earlier said at a media industry conference "we have quality content in spades ... the job at hand is to now go further by strengthening the growing elements of our business". Viner wanted renewed investment after better than feared financial results in 2020.[42] On 9 June 2021, it was announced that Thomas would leave The Guardian Media Group at the end of the month.[43][44]
In 2023, theNew Statesman named her thirtieth most powerful left wing figure in the UK in their annual 'Left Power List'.[45]
Viner is known forMy Name Is Rachel Corrie, a play she co-edited with actorAlan Rickman from the writings and emails ofRachel Corrie, an American activist who was killed by a bulldozer operated by theIsraeli Army in Rafah, Gaza in 2003.[46][47][48] The play was first performed at theRoyal Court Theatre in 2005.[47] After Rickman died of cancer in January 2016, Viner wrote that their collaboration had been initially difficult, but "on the opening night we each admitted that we couldn’t have done justice to Rachel’s words without the other".[49]
Viner was a judge in theOrange Prize for Fiction in 2004[50] and was on the board of theRoyal Court Theatre for 13 years.[51]
In 2002, Viner criticised the plannedinvasion of Iraq and wrote thatGeorge W. Bush "bombed Afghanistan to liberate the women from their burkas (or, as he would have it, to free the "women of cover"), and sent out his wife Laura to tell how Afghans are tortured for wearing nail varnish".[52]
Viner opposedBrexit. In 2016, she wrote: "At the end of a campaign that dominated the news for months, it was suddenly obvious that the winning side had no plan for how or when the UK would leave the EU – while the deceptive claims that carried the leave campaign to victory suddenly crumbled."[53]
Viner married broadcaster, documentary maker and writer[54]Adrian Chiles in 2022. Chiles, speaking on BBC Radio 4 "Saturday Live," said 150 guests attended their wedding ceremony.[55]
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Editor ofThe Guardian 2015–present | Incumbent |
| International | |
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| National | |
