Introduction The changes we face

We encourage our writers to use the word strongly supported across the business as a whole. “unprecedented” sparingly because it can so easily However, as this change represents the most signifi- be devalued. But we feel it is an appropriate cant editorial development of the past 30 years, the description of the past year in the life of Guardian Guardian editor’s strong preference for the mid-size Newspapers Limited (GNL) and the media industry was a critical element in the final decision. in general. Alongside the format change there will also be a We were faced with two major events: the close examination of the paper’s journalism, with the decision by two of our competitors to change to a purpose of reinforcing and expressing more clearly tabloid format; and the repercussions of the Hutton and reliably the mission of the Scott Trust to publish report, which investigated a BBC journalist’s claim quality newspapers, free from party affiliation, that the government had sexed up its dossier on Iraq remaining faithful to liberal tradition. before the war. This examination has been spurred on by contro- In our response to both situations, the core values versy on both sides of the Atlantic. The Hutton that were embedded in our organisation many report and the Mirror’s use of fake pictures of British decades ago have shown themselves to be troops abusing Iraqi prisoners has caused soul enduring and crucial, not only to our editorial searching about journalistic standards in this credibility, but also to our commercial success. country. In the US, the story has been similar. The The process by which we agreed to change within respected New York Times was engulfed by two the next two years from a broadsheet to a mid-size scandals: the Jayson Blair case, in which a junior “European” format, the most significant change reporter plagiarised and fabricated dozens of since the Guardian moved to London in the 1960s, is stories; and the publication of a 1,200-word note in a testament to the strength and effectiveness of our which the editors admitted the paper’s coverage of ownership structure. the prelude to the Iraq war had not been as Because we are owned by the Scott Trust we were “rigorous” as it should have been. able to take the long-term view on format and to Like other institutions before it, the “fourth estate” make a decision that was entirely right for the is under attack and facing pressure to change. Guardian and the Observer. Politicians, City fund managers, pressure groups, as The editorial and commercial departments well as some journalists, are starting to question worked together throughout the planning process media groups about how they are living up to their and the decision in favour of the mid-size was corporate social responsibilities. The Guardian’s 4 Living our values ‘Honesty, cleanness, courage, fairness, a sense of duty to the reader and the community’ CP Scott on the values of the Manchester Guardian, May 5 1921

senior leader writer, Martin Kettle, crystallised the the backbone of everything we do. These values are importance of this debate when he wrote: “What do not there to inform our journalism alone but also all we really mean by freedom of the press? That any- our business practices. There is nothing that rankles one can say anything about anyone, however more than exhorting our readers to take one course untrue? Or that a society needs trustworthy and reli- of action if we, as a company, are doing something able information in order to make its decisions? completely different. Surely we deserve something better than what This is why this audit measures our impacts on all we’ve got.” our stakeholders — employees, readers, customers, It is at this crossroads that GNL publishes its suppliers — as well as the environment, against our second social, ethical and environmental audit. At values. By having the report independently audited a time when readers are being overwhelmed by a we are ensuring it is a fair and balanced reflection torrent of real-time information, it has become of where we stand (see auditor’s statement on increasingly important that our publications page 56). maintain and improve their reputation as trusted We started our social auditing journey last year. navigators. If quality journalism is to survive and We wanted our first report to act as an agent for prosper, then above all we must maintain our change and in this it has succeeded. Where we credibility. found gaps between our values and our actions, we It is equally vital that our founding values, created set ourselves targets for improvement. Many of in the furnace of the political reform movement 183 these we achieved ahead of schedule but there is years ago, are reinvigorated and breathe their fiery still a way to go with others. A summary of our spirit throughout our organisation. progress can be seen on page 54, alongside our CP Scott, the Manchester Guardian’s editor for new targets for 2004-05. nearly 57 years, was the first to hone down these val- The scale of change we are facing in the next two ues to the core essence in his leading article cele- years is momentous but through this period we will brating the paper’s centenary on May 5 1921: seek to ensure that our values remain at the “Honesty, cleanness [integrity], courage, fairness, a forefront of both our hearts and minds. sense of duty to the reader and the community.” These are extremely demanding, especially in the Carolyn McCall, chief executive context of the daily pressure to bring out the papers Alan Rusbridger, Guardian editor and constantly update the websites, but must form Roger Alton, Observer editor Living our values 5 interference from any quarter.interference thejournalismfromunwarranted protect of theGuardianandthendoesallitcanto and GuardianUnlimited. Itappointstheeditor totheObserver News, subsequentlyextended of theGuardianandManchester Evening and integrity ofthejournalism— initiallythat theindependence primarilytoprotect it exists publications. Unlike acommercialshareholder, ofits alsotheproprietor Group andtherefore Trust. from thetermsoftheirownershipbyScott Group, have awiderduty, too,whichderives like allthebusinessesofGuardian Media the Independent onSunday. followedsuit,asdid Observer argument. The into thefinerpointsofanoversimplified orjustdelvepublicly apology blame, extract is independent,uneditableandfreetoassign complaints aboutthecontentofpaper. He Britain’s firstreaders’editortodealwith for editorialaccountability byappointing turned onitsowninternalworkings. fear fromthesearchlightofpublicity being hasmuchto thepressknowsitnever most part ofthepopulation,butfor entertainment tothe general sooften, breaks downevery seriously dishittoeachother. tradition The that dogdoesn’t don’t eat dogandnewspapers glorious—tradition tical —thoughnotvery a healthy democracy. individuals tobebetter. We seeitasourduty in urging governments, organisationsand to sheddinglightonthefailingsofothersand than takingit.We oweagood dealofourliving Most arebetter newspapers at givingadvice Livingourvalues 6 Free thinkers The ScottTrust The trustisthe owner oftheGuardianMediaThe and websitesofGNL, But thenewspapers yearsago theGuardianbrokeSeven alance isaprac- But whoguardstheguards?There trustworthy soundingboard attrustworthy timesofstress whoneed acandidfriendor and executives will alsobearesourceformanagers,editors allthisrightit tobeconsulted.Ifitgets expect onthe bigstrategiceye movesonwhichitwill board’s responsibilitiesbutitmustkeep aclear tousurpthegroup right northecompetence day-to-day management. Ithasneitherthe inthe interfering a broadstrategic never level, —accountablebutitmustdosoat newspapers Manchester Guardian bust ofCPScottinfront ofboundcopiesthe a September ofHugoYoung. Oppositepage: appointed by thetrusteesondeathlast Liz Forgan, whochairs theScottTrust. Shewas It mustholdthebusinesses—including

GRAHAM TURNER editor, leader CPScott, inhiscentenary out bythepaper’s wereset guard. They great which themodern-day trustalsoneedstosafe- oftheManchestercharacter Guardianand values originallyconsideredessentialtothe commercial competition. andimmediate pressuresofcut-throat extreme tothe about ourbusinesswithoutbeingprey there isacleareditorialjustificationandtogo tough,toruncommercialriskswhen times get and soallowsustotake when thelongview removes theneedalways tomaximiseprofits papers at leastasmuchinthebottom line.It quality, courage, andintegrity ofthenews- that, forGMG,shareholder valueresidesinthe knowledge andunderstanding. fromabasisofcomplete offered solidsupport made case,backed bythegroup.In it theevent contemplated challengingGNL’s properly unsustainable byGMG,wouldthetrusthave seriously damagingtothepaperorfinancially the editor’s wouldbe proposedcourseofaction that stances, ifthetrustweretoreachview tofollow.groups wouldexpect wasnottheonemostnewspaper of events the businesscasehadtobemadebutorder financial considerations.Ultimately, ofcourse, of thedecisionshouldbeeditorialratherthan driver theoutcome,primary that, whatever trust’sThe positionwastosay fromtheoutset option. ofevery laying outthebusinessaspects executive and waslaterjoinedbythechief took thetrustthroughhisthinkingindetail, format wouldberightforitsreaders,theeditor achangefromthebroadsheet consider whether decisionmaking. or important With that freedom,however, goes alistof Having thetrustassoleshareholdermeans ofcircum- Only underthemostextreme For instance,astheGuardianbeganto of the trust for its continued determination to of thetrustforitscontinueddetermination andithasthefullsupport covers ourindustry cloakthat tion tothrowofftheprotective organisa- do so.Butitwasthefirstnewspaper toimprove. keeps ontrying does“leavescrutiny thatnever thematter” but ofcontinuous uptothesort and itspractices bitofthecompany process ofopeningevery anddelicate itandbeganthelong,difficult left decided topickthematter upfromwhere CP ButGuardianNewspapers Ltditself to prevent. whichitspecificallyexists ofinterference level For ittohave a donesowouldbetoexercise social auditofGuardianNewspapers lastyear. brings. that enjoysthefreedomsthattrustownership the matter” won’t doany moreforabusiness 83years:“andthereleavesome updating after mentor. Butthatlastsentencehascalledfor sayings attributable toourgreat directly challenge oneofthesmallandpreciousstore matter,” hewrote. andthereleavepardon forshortcomings the impossible toliveupto.“We canbuttry, ask lists constituteanidealwhichmay prove existence.” amoral aswellamaterial … Ithas,therefore widerdestinies community; even itmay affect andinfluencesthelifeofawhole it reflects much morethanabusiness;itisaninstitution; the materialsenseinordertolive.Butitis It isabusiness,like any other, andhastopay in the readerandcommunity”. cleanness, courage, fairness,asenseofduty to include“honesty,published in1921.They It was certainly notthefirstbigcompany to It wascertainly It wasnotthetrustthatordainedfirst that theScottIt isnotoften Trust daresto he CP himselfacknowledgedthat thevirtues He wenton:“A hastwo newspaper sidestoit. when timesgettough’ allows ustotake thelongview profits andso to maximise line. Itremoves theneedalways least asmuchinthebottom ofthenewspapers at integrity in thequality, courage, and GMG, shareholdervalue resides shareholder meansthat,for ‘Having thetrustassole broad generalities into practical action to action broad generalitiesintopractical priorities asthedivisionalboardsdecide. different but thereisalsofreedomtoreflect ofand byall, a basicstandardthatisexpected is as welloftheircommercialsuccess.There are proudoftheircontributiontothatesteem esteem, sothebigcashgeneratorsofgroup andwinning takes prideinmakingbudget the Guardian’s bacon.ButjustastheGuardian bringhome topointoutthatthey opportunity the groupcashflow, andtake theoccasional greater pressurethanotherstocontribute orbusinesspriorities. circumstances markets, competitive according toourparticular our values butwe interpret themdifferently ofthegroupandtrust.gral We parts share acter, thoughtheyareallinte- andfocus culture and theradio stations, aredifferentintheirchar- national andregionalpress,Trader Media Group reach foritself. divisions,amongthemthe The the divisionsofGuardianMedia Groupto day-to-day isadecisionforeachof That practice. which thefoundingvalues shouldbeappliedin toothless platitudes. arereducedto be toolooselydescribedorthey mustnot as lifechanges aroundthem.Butthey and riskseeingthemdwindleintoirrelevance context would betofreezetheminaparticular out “Scott Trust values”tooprescriptively tainability, work/lifebalance,diversity. Spelling and hiscontemporaries—environmental sus- troubledCPScottthings thatprobablynever businesswhichmustconsider 21st-century fora willbereinterpreted Edwardian virtues with it. be accountabletoitsreadersandallwhodeal The social audit is a powerful tool forturning socialauditisapowerful The ofthegroupareclearlyundera Some parts It isnotthetrust’s jobtolay downtheways in of Over theyearsthatoriginalshortlist Living ourvalues 7

DAVID SILLITOE Scores for CSR reports of media and ‘What an extraordinary and Feedback entertainment companies based on SustainAbility’s benchmark (%, 2004) interesting document this is. GNL Time The dedication to standards and Warner responsibility reflected in the 32 10 audit of values sets a high Ahead BSkyB Walt Disney standard that needs wide 31.5 8 distribution’ BBC Viacom Bill Kovach of the 24 0 chairman of the Committee of Pearson Mediaset Concerned Journalists, 24 0 Washington Vivendi News Cor- Universal poration ‘As fine an example of media game 22 0 accountability as I can recall’ Reuters Geneva Overholser 13 former ombudsman of the Washington Post

We were heartened by the response to our first Marty Kaiser, editor of the Milwaukee ism. These issues seem to be rarely discussed by Living our Values audit. Nearly 5,000 copies Journal Sentinel, wrote: “It is a very impressive most media reports. were sent to staff and readers as well as media piece of work. I have shared the copies with the “The report is particularly weak on outlining organisations and research institutions in leadership teams of the Journal Sentinel and governance and organisational accountability countries ranging from the US and Canada to Journal Communications. We are having many for sustainability issues and no information is India and the Philippines. discussions of values as we move from a private given on how the social or environmental SustainAbility, a leading consultancy on employee-owned company to a public dimensions are managed. More key perfor- corporate responsibility and sustainable company. Your work should help us.” mance indicators need to be established development, produced a report this year in On the back of the audit, GNL won the throughout and this a key are for improvement partnership with the environmental pressure Environmental Newspaper Company of the in the report.” We have taken these criticisms group WWF, on the media industry. Its study of Year award in April 2004. The citation for the on board and have taken steps to shore up the corporate responsibility in the global media award stated: “Top marks from all judges. This areas of weakness that SustainAbility and entertainment sector ranked GNL first, document [the social, environmental and pinpointed. ahead of the BBC, Pearson and Reuters in this ethical audit] is one of the most comprehensive While the primary aim of our audit was to country as well as international media and and holistic audits I’ve seen … impressive and measure our own performance, we were also entertainment groups including News Interna- sets the standard for this sector.” hoping that it would encourage other media tional, Time Warner and Vivendi Universal. Reader response was also enthusiastic. One companies to report more fully on their A major study for the European commission wrote to the editor: “I was hugely impressed by activities. In support of this, GNL and its on corporate social responsibility and the what you have achieved. I finished the report parent company, GMG, have become members media industry by the consultancy Rightscom feeling that this my Guardian, something I am of the Media CSR Forum, a collection of 16 big reported that our audit was “the clearest proud to read and a source of knowledge that I media companies who are committed to example of good practice we have identified”. It can trust in an increasingly complex and furthering corporate social responsibility in the based this view on the fact that we addressed uncertain world.” sector. The other members of the forum include the concerns of all our stakeholders, had To get some more critical feedback we the BBC, ITV, Pearson, Capital Radio, Reuters, complete transparency in reporting, owned up engaged SustainAbility to look at our report in Trinity Mirror, EMI, Reed Elsevier and Sky. to our mistakes and were independently detail and make recommendations for In a speech marking the launch of the forum, audited using the Institute of Social and Ethical improvement. Its assessment concluded: “The Sir Robert Phillis, the chief executive of the Accountability’s AA1000 standard and GRI’s report is engaging, refreshing in its honesty and Guardian Media Group, said: “It is important (the Global Reporting Initiative) 2002 its genuine commitment to the principles of the to stress that media companies have much in guidelines. Scott Trust. It reports on editorial indepen- common with other sectors in the area of CSR. Geneva Overholser, a former ombudsman of dence, honesty and trust, vital to good journal- We have the same range of stakeholders, and the Washington Post, called it “as fine an the media industry’s impact in these areas can example of media accountability as I can recall,” ‘I finished the report feeling that and should be measured and compared with while Bill Kovach, the respected chairman of this is my Guardian, something I companies in other sectors, such as manufac- the Washington-based Committee of am proud to read and a source turing or retail. At the same time the media also Concerned Journalists, wrote: “What an extra- occupies a unique position in supporting the ordinary and interesting document this is. The of knowledge that I can trust in democratic process by making information, dedication to standards and responsibility an increasingly complex and knowledge and a range of opinions openly reflected in the audit of values sets a high uncertain world’ available and ensuring that public and private standard that needs wide distribution.” A reader institutions are accountable for their behaviour. 8 Living our values Commercial realities Size matters

The first edition of GNL’s Social Audit, published The process by which we reached this last year, described the intensely competitive decision and received the backing from our nature of the quality press market in the UK and parent company GMG and from the Scott Trust identified the key long-run trends for the sector to proceed with this strategy is illustrative of in which we operate: the slow but steady annual the distinctive way in which GNL operates. decline in newspapers purchase during the Having identified a problem shared by many, week; younger people in particular favouring we then identified a solution unique to our- other media forms over print; publishers chasing selves and we have been fully supported in this readers by publishing bigger newspapers with decision — even though it will cost more and higher paginations and more and more sections; take longer to deliver than the “me-too” option and, inevitably, the trend of low profit margins of going tabloid. We believe we will be the only for most publishers as a result of all this. UK national publisher printing in this format In the first half of 2003 the market contin- when we launch and we know that we will have ued to perform in keeping with these trends. to rethink everything we do, both editorially Then came the sudden change; as profits and commercially, as a result. It is for us, how- continued to fall and circulations struggled to ever, the right decision and the most significant keep pace, publishers reached, in the autumn of one for GNL in nearly two generations. 2003, for new and radical solutions to the All this would have been extremely difficult problem. In 1993 publishers alighted on price- without the financial backing of GMG, which cutting as the answer to their problems and in has been built up over the past three decades to 2003 they alighted on format change. secure the future of the Guardian and, latterly, the Observer and Guardian Unlimited. Format It is unusual in the business world for a parent company to exist in order to support one After a decade of getting constantly bigger, of its divisions, but the GMG chairman, Paul quality national publishers embraced the Myners, is absolutely clear about this: “Our core prospect of going smaller; a process started by objective is the protection of our national titles, the launch of tabloid editions of the Indepen- the Guardian, the Observer and Guardian dent and the Times in the autumn of 2003 and Unlimited. All our activities are in pursuit of with plenty more developments to follow. that core objective and exist as a store of value to As the newspaper publisher with arguably enable us to pursue our primary objective.” the strongest innovation credentials in the GMG took another major step forward in its sector, GNL had been widely expected to lead development in 2004 with the purchase of the the market into format change, and our remaining 52% stake in the highly successful response has been keenly awaited both Trader Media Group, which publishes Auto- internally and externally. As has now been Trader. The GMG chief executive, Sir Robert widely reported, GNL will, within the next two Phillis, said in the company’s annual report and years, be changing, to the European mid-size accounts: “GMG has emerged from a highly format — halfway between that of the current competitive period, stronger than before and UK broadsheets and tabloids with the editorial and financial security of the DAVID SILLITOE DAVID Living our values 9 ROGER BAMBER Guardian Media Group profit and Guardian and the Observer transformed loss before interest and taxation constrained editorially by publishing as a through the full acquisition of Trader Media (£ million) tabloid — but we could not ignore the appeal of Group (TMG). This brings to the group a stable 2004 2003 the smaller size to young readers in particular of magazines and websites valued at more than or the fact that the Independent and Times £1 billion, which in turn allows us to earmark a were gaining readers as a result. Doing nothing National substantial sum of money to meet the longer- newspapers was clearly not an option either. term needs of the group as a whole.” Apart from -6.2 -7.5 Throughout the autumn and winter the TMG, GMG consists of a regional newspaper debate continued — dummies were prepared, Regional division, which publishes the Manchester newspapers research undertaken, internal consultation Evening News and a host of other regional and 30.7 21.8 took place and business plans and risk logs local papers around Manchester, Cheshire, Radio were completed. Dual publishing of both a Lancashire, Berkshire and Hampshire, and a broadsheet and tabloid Guardian was rejected radio division, which operates under the Real -8.3 -11.1 early on by the chief executive as too expensive, Radio, Jazz FM and smooth fm brands. Trader Media too complex and too diversionary. Given, there- Debate within GNL as to whether a tabloid Group fore, that any move to tabloid would be both Guardian was either feasible or desirable 58.3 41.4 total and irreversible this was clearly a critical predated the launch of both the Independent Other group decision for the GNL board as a whole but also and Times tabloids. Opponents of the tabloid activities one in which the editor’s view would be of argued that the Guardian’s authoritative and -12.4 -14.9 primary importance. balanced journalism could not be successfully Totals By the February 2004 GNL board meeting, accommodated within the constraints of 62.1 29.7 all background work had been completed and tabloid pages. A move to tabloid would change the decision as to whether or not to proceed GMG pretax profit after interest £43.6m (£36.9m in 2003) the essence of the Guardian and force us into a Source: GMG plc annual report and accounts 2004 had to be taken. The board agreed that we particular style of writing and display that should not change to the tabloid format but undermined our strengths and took us into new also that remaining broadsheet was not a viable and undesirable competitive territory. long-term strategy . The GNL board therefore At a commercial level there were significant unanimously agreed to adopt a completely obstacles to overcome before a tabloid launch different approach on the format issue. Our could be considered. There were real issues goal was to reconcile the two objectives of pre- around fitting the substantial Media, Educa- senting Guardian content in the intelligent and tion and Society tabloids inside a tabloid main distinctive style our readers value while also section — potentially defeating the objective of presenting this content in a format that is creating a portable and compact newspaper. accessible, portable and contemporary. There were also problems associated with the The solution lay in the European mid-size pricing model for display advertising and the and the GNL board recommended that we certainty that we would lose revenue as a result should adopt this size for our newspapers, a of the loss of front-page solus strip advertise- recommendation fully supported by the GMG ments and the downsizing of broadsheet full- board, despite the significant implications. We page advertisements. will be the first publisher to introduce this We would be worse off financially and format to the UK national newspaper-buying 10 Living our values How the qualities are selling Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures for quality dailies (000s) Dec 03-May 04 Dec 02-May 03 change (000s) % change Guardian 379 404 -24 -6.1 Independent 254 223 +31 +14 Times 653 659 -6 -1.0 Telegraph 915 933 -18 -1.9 Financial Times 441 463 -23 -4.9 Total for dailies 2,641 2,682 -41 -1.5 ‘Our core objective is the ABC figures for quality Sundays (000s) protection of our national titles, Dec 03-May 04 Dec 02-May 03 change (000s) % change the Guardian, the Observer and Observer 451 456 -6 -1.2 Guardian Unlimited. All our activities are in pursuit of that Independent on Sun 209 221 -12 -5.5 core objective and exist as a Sunday Times 1,365 1,379 -14 -1.0 store of value to enable us to Sunday Telegraph 701 731 -31 -4.2 pursue our primary objective’ Paul Myners Total for Sundays 2,725 2,787 -63 -2.2 chairman of GMG and advertising markets, and that means great pendent peaking at around 260,000, having from £7.5m to £6.2m on turnover, up from opportunity but also potential risk. taken the decision to become wholly and solely £216.7m to £227.5m, a strong performance The commercial reality is that we will be tabloid. The Times, meanwhile, whose sales given the tough commercial and competitive investing a large sum of money in new presses have settled in the 650,000s, will probably have circumstances under which we operated. GNL and that we will have to either modify our to carry the costs of dual publishing for some was helped last year by a recovering advertising existing print sites or find new ones in which to time to come, given the strength of the market — in particular a strengthening in house them. We will be working with new pro-broadsheet element in its readership. recruitment, where the Guardian is the market designs, new suppliers, new partners, new A change to smaller papers, therefore, looks leader. Losses on the Observer and Guardian equipment and new business models — we are to be part of the answer for broadsheet news- Unlimited also fell again this year in line with reappraising everything we do, creating the papers but it is clearly not the whole answer to business plans. newspapers and the organisation afresh from reversing long-term decline. GNL has continued with its strategy of seek- the bottom up. The Sunday market, free of format-based ing to drive profits from brand extensions. We Newspaper profitability competition, has remained nevertheless acquired 100% of our digital education ferociously competitive in terms of product resource business Learn, which is poised to So what of the risk-reward ratio? How has the development and promotional spend. The enter its first break-even year. It has two main catalyst of format change affected the commer- launch of the CD-rom supplement, The Month, activities, selling school subscriptions to Learn- cial realities for newspaper publishers? In truth by the Sunday Times and of the third Observer premium as well as selling education content it is probably too early to judge exactly what the magazine, Observer Music Monthly, were services to a range of mostly public sector long-term impact on the market will be, probably the most significant developments clients. Guardian Books published more than although we have some early figures to this year and helped to grow share for both 30 titles in the year and Guardian Films, our interpret. Three sets of figures have recently titles in a declining market. television production company, produced 18 been published, each revealing in its own right. The second set of figures to consider is the films in its first 18 months, primarily for the Taken together they sum up perfectly the latest reported losses by Times Newspapers, BBC and Channel 4. current state of the market. Independent Newspapers and the FT — a The only quality broadsheet newspaper com- The first relevant set of figures is the six- combined total of £65m during 2003. These pany in profit was the Telegraph Group with monthly ABC figures for December 2003-May figures predate the launch of the compact forecast profits this year of £45m-£50m. 2004. It is in this section that we would expect versions of the Times and Independent and, at National newspaper publishers will have been to see a return on investment in the shape of least in the short term, these launches will cheered by the high degree of interest and by markedly improved ABC figures for the dailies. make the figures worse. The Independent have the price finally paid by the Barclays for the But the table shows that, despite the launch of referred to incremental costs of £4m-£5m over Telegraph. At a cash-free/debt-free price of the compacts, the quality daily market is actu- the first six months of the tabloid launch, while £665m, there is clearly a huge appetite for ally down by 41,000 copies year on year and the Times is believed to have spent at least national newspaper ownership and we await that only the Independent has increased circu- twice that on dual publishing and marketing its with interest the next moves for the title. lation. While some 22% of all copies sold in the own version. The financial picture, already Of course commercial reality does not stop quality daily market are now tabloids, their poor, appears to be getting worse for publishers and start at format change, ABC figures and launch does not appear to have expanded the as a result of this development and advertisers profit and loss accounts. For GNL ,the really market as a whole. Instead, a pattern of substi- are as yet reluctant to pay up through increased long game involves development of our “any tution and switching seems to have occurred. yields. There is a long commercial haul ahead. time, any place, anywhere” strategy of There were signs that tabloid sales had In the 2003-04 financial year, Guardian providing readers with Guardian and Observer stalled in the summer of 2004, with the Inde- Newspapers Ltd reported that losses had fallen content across a wide variety of print and Living our values 11 FRANK BARON 12 Living our values Readers A question of trust

“The media’s temptation to flaunt its power is having the courage to say when we don’t know write by our own Richter scale of news old,” Martin Kettle, senior leader writer of the all the answers. Trust knows no boundaries and judgments and values than feel that we’re Guardian, wrote in May of 2004 in a comment it demands the highest standards across all our measuring ourselves against the competition. piece bemoaning the lack of standards in the editorial activities. It’s not just about our choice Every time we flam a story up we disappoint British press. “Kiss ’em one day and kick ’em the of stories, but about our choice of words, of somebody, usually a reader who thought the next,” Beaverbrook once put it — but it has now writers, of pictures and graphics. With the Guardian was different. We should be different. become such an addiction that many reporters growth of the internet, journalism also no Of course we compete fiercely in the most com- seem barely to know they are crossing the line. longer has any geographical boundaries and petitive newspaper market in the world. Of Is this down to a lack of professional standards? mistakes can travel round the world in a matter course we want to sell as many copies as possi- Yes, in part. But it also reflects lack of account- of minutes. ble. We’ve all experienced peer pressure to write ability. The crisis of democracy is a crisis in The Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, something as strongly as possible, if not more journalism, warned Walter Lippmann in the recently said: “It is clear that the Guardian is so. But our trust ownership relieves us of the 1920s. Today it is the other way round. becoming the English language global liberal necessity to drive remorselessly for circulation At the same time Lippmann was debating voice. It has earned an incredibly high degree of to the exclusion of all else. In other words, we the purpose of the press in America, the Man- trust. That means that today’s journalists have a don’t need to sex things up, and we shouldn’t.” chester Guardian’s esteemed editor of 57 years, much bigger influence than any previous gen- One of the challenges for the Guardian, and CP Scott, was laying down the principles on eration of Guardian writers. The bigger the for journalism in general, is how to put effective which our journalism should be based in this internet becomes and the more voices there are checks and balances in place without taking the country. In his leading article celebrating the on it, the more important it is to have a voice lifeblood out of the profession. The other is how paper’s centenary on May 5 1921, he wrote: “Its that is recognisable, truthful and reliable.” to create a credible product every day when primary office is the gathering of news. At the During the Hutton inquiry Rusbridger wrote journalists are under intense pressure to meet peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not to all staff: “Every editor since 1921 has received deadlines. It is important to recognise, as the tainted. Neither in what it gives, nor in what it a steady dozen or so letters a week reminding American political reporter David Broder put it, does not give, nor in the mode of presentation him of what CP Scott had to say on the subject of that despite best intentions, a newspaper is “a must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. comment and fact and hinting that the great partial, hasty, incomplete, inevitably somewhat Comment is free, facts are sacred. ‘Propaganda’, editor was currently to be found rotating in his flawed and inaccurate rendering of some of the so called, by this means is hateful. The voice of burial place. But all the evidence does suggest things we have heard about in the past 24 hours.” opponents no less than that of friends has a that, given a choice, Guardian readers would Much has been done in the past few years to right to be heard. Comment also is justly rather we did give them the unvarnished truth ensure we produce credible journalism: the subject to a self-imposed restraint. It is well to — or our best stab at it. It seems obvious Guardian and Observer were the first papers to be frank; it is even better to be fair.” enough. But inside many journalists — this goes employ independent ombudsmen. The While Scott wrote these words 83 years ago, for desk editors as much as reporters — there is Guardian produced its own editorial code of they resonate even more strongly today as parts a little demon prompting us to make the story as conduct that goes beyond the requirements of of the press start to re-examine the foundations strong and interesting as possible, if not more the Press Complaints Commission, and both on which our profession is built. Perhaps the so. We drop a few excitable adjectives around papers have published their own style guides. most important building block is trust. It is a the place. We over-egg. We may even sex it up. But it is accepted that there is more we could be precious commodity, taking years to build up “Strong stories are good. So are interesting doing and the planned format change provides and minutes to tear down. It is not about stories. But straight, accurate stories are even us with a great opportunity to do just that. always being right; it’s about doing one’s best, better. Readers who stick with us over any One of the inspirations for this work has been admitting when mistakes have been made and length of time would far rather judge what we research conducted in the US by the Living our values 13 Readers Checks and balances

Committee of Concerned Journalists, Sources ther the importance of editorial standards in a consortium of reporters, editors, producers, journalism, through a series of discussion publishers, owners and academics worried The Guardian’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, groups for our editorial staff (2004 target 1). about the future of the profession. The chair- re-evaluated the paper’s processes at the start of Editorial code man, Bill Kovach, has written a book called the 2004 and made a number of recommendations Elements of Journalism, which examines the for tightening our procedures, ranging from the Two years ago the Guardian introduced its own character of the profession at the beginning of use of anonymous sources and note taking to editorial code of conduct, which is in addition the 21st century. It is a must-read for all journal- ensuring fairness — one of our own key values. to the Press Complaints Commission code of ism students in America, and now the Guardian He noted that our policy on using anony- conduct, which applies to all newspapers. Not has had it published in this country so that the mous sources sparingly was sometimes not only full-time journalists but also freelances information gets wide distribution here, too. being fully adhered to. In a letter to staff, which working for the paper are expected to follow Kovach writes: “Democracy depends on citi- was followed up by an open meeting, he said: the code, which covers everything from zens having reliable, accurate facts put in a “In all this you simply have to bear in mind the professional practice to personal behaviour and meaningful context. Journalism does not pur- innocent reader, and the cumulative effect of conflicts of interest. sue truth in an absolute or philosophical sense, ploughing through a paper in which a signifi- Journalists are not allowed to pay for stories but it can — and must — pursue it in a practical cant degree of information is passed on without and the editor or his deputy must approve rare sense. This ‘journalistic truth’ is a process that any means of knowing how to evaluate it. exceptions; staff must not reproduce other begins with the professional discipline of Stories should wherever possible be multi- people’s material without attribution; assembling and verifying facts. Then journal- sourced. Where that is not possible, the reliance journalists should avoid intrusions into people’s ists try to convey a fair and reliable account of on a single source should be made clear to desk privacy unless there is a clear public interest in their meaning, valid for now, subject to further editors and the matter discussed fully. If there doing so; journalists should identify themselves investigation. Journalists should be as trans- is a chance that additional sources could be as Guardian employees when working on a parent as possible about sources and methods obtained by holding off publication by a day or story; a head of department must approve any so audiences can make their own assessment of even a few days, then we may want to wait, exceptions when a writer is involved in a story the information. Even in a world of expanding unless there is an overwhelming need — not of exceptional public interest. voices, accuracy is the foundation upon which just the general desire for competitive edge — It is the responsibility of desk editors to everything else is built — context, interpreta- to get the story out immediately.” ensure compliance with the editorial code, the tion, comment, criticism, analysis and debate. The BBC reached similar conclusions in June PCC code and style guide. Breaches of our The truth, over time, emerges from this forum. on the lessons the corporation had to learn from internal code are not systematically monitored As citizens encounter an ever-greater flow of the Hutton report. The Neil report details what but the readers’ editors will pick up and report data, they have more need — not less — for amounts to a code of conduct. BBC journalists on cases where it is repeatedly abused or where identifiable sources dedicated to verifying that should strive to name as many of their sources as a breach is particularly contentious. The information and putting it in context.” possible. When sources demand anonymity they Observer does not have its own code but follows In this arena journalists do not do well. A must give as much information about them as the PCC regulations, which it believes have poll by Mori found they were the least trustwor- possible without compromising them, and say never proved inadequate. thy of any group. Although the poll of 2,000 why they ask not to be named. Stories based on a In 2003, 33 complaints were made to the adults in early spring 2004 found that trust in single anonymous source must only be broadcast PCC about the Observer of which none was journalists had risen modestly to 20%, this was when there is “significant public interest” and upheld; 85 were made about the Guardian, of below the number who trusted politicians with the clearance of senior editors. which one was upheld — a complaint regarding (whereas 92% of the public trusted doctors to In the coming year, GNL will reiterate fur- paying a former criminal £720 for offering an 14 Living our values alternative view of Lord Archer’s time in prison. systematically. In the broader media sector, the ‘Journalists should be as The PCC argued that payments to criminals BBC recognised the importance of such as role transparent as possible about by newspapers on issues directly relating to when it announced in June that it needed “a their crimes or stemming from them are only system and a culture that encourages fast sources and methods so justifiable in circumstances where the right to clarification and correction.” audiences can make their own freedom of expression guaranteed by article 10 A senior journalist, Ian Mayes, was assessment of the information. of the convention of human rights is to be appointed as ombudsman for the Guardian and Even in a world of expanding preferred on public interest grounds. It claimed his sole task is to respond to readers’ queries the Guardian’s justification was unconvincing and complaints. He is independent of the voices, accuracy is the and found a breach of the code. The Guardian editor, his number and email address are foundation upon which was deeply unhappy about the adjudication advertised every day and he has guaranteed and everything else is built — context, and wrote a leader comment on it: “The origi- prominent space in the paper to deal with interpretation, comment, nal purpose behind banning payments to crimi- whatever concerns readers raise. nals was to prevent them from glorifying their He said: “Many of the minority who feel they criticism, analysis and debate’ own crimes. This week’s adjudication strays have a serious complaint against the Guardian Bill Kovach dangerously close to extending this ban on pay- come to me to seek a quick and free and chair of the Committee of Con- ments for writing to other prisoners or former independent adjudication rather than go to the prisoners on the grounds that they only came to Press Complaints Commission or to their cerned Journalists, be in prison because they committed a crime. lawyer — my office cuts the traffic to the Washington “Editors will in future have to double-guess Guardian’s legal affairs department by at least what view of the ‘public interest’ the PCC might 30%. Many of the less serious matters that find take. This has the alarming implication of their way into the daily corrections and stifling the work of such writers as our own clarifications column I see as a form of reader Erwin James, whose much admired Life Inside participation. Readers write because they care columns have just been published as a book. about the paper. They know that their views The PCC has pointedly declined to offer any will be taken seriously.” view as to whether James, like Williams, is now Visitors from news organisations all over the threatened. It goes without saying that no world continue to show themselves anxious to newspaper could remain part of a body which find out about our system. More of them are sought to prevent James, or other such prison- appointing ombudsmen and joining the Organ- ers, from writing about prison life, nor to deny isation of News Ombudsmen (ONO), of which them the honest rewards which they are enti- Ian Mayes was elected vice-president in 2004 tled to expect (in James’s case, with the full and Observer readers’ editor Stephen Pritchard agreement of the prison authorities). is a board member. ONO now has about 80 “More troubling still is the PCC’s cursory nod members worldwide and next year, 2005, will towards the Human Rights Act and its protec- meet in London; the conference will be hosted tion of freedom of expression (absent alto- by the Guardian and the Observer. 59% gether from the first draft of the adjudication). According to our readership survey of June % of Guardian readers surveyed this year Article 10 could not be clearer — freedom of 2004, 59% of Guardian readers are aware of the were aware of the existence of the readers’ speech is the trump card except in exceptional readers’ editor’s existence. More than three- editor circumstances, such as national security. quarters of them say he makes them feel that the Although the PCC pays lip service to the HRA it paper is responsive to their views and opinions. has, by this adjudication, introduced a degree Of the 44% of Observer readers who are aware of uncertainty which is bound to have a chilling of their readers’ editor, 68% feel the same way. A effect on freedom of expression. survey of editorial staff conducted in 2003 “Readers should be reassured that the asked whether the papers were responsive to the Guardian will continue to write about prisons concerns of the readership. Among Guardian and penal policy. Among the voices who journalists, 75% agreed or strongly agreed we 44% deserve to be heard in this debate are prisoners were; 22% did not feel strongly either way; and of Observer readers knew of the existence of and former prisoners. Where it seems to us 3% disagreed or strongly disagreed. Observer the readers’ editor appropriate that they should be paid for their journalists were split as follows: agreed, 54%; work, we will pay them.” no strong feelings, 30%; disagreed, 16%. Prior to this, the last complaint to be upheld against the Guardian was in 1996, and the Guardian readers’ editor Observer in 2001. The Guardian’s full editorial code can be read In 2003 Ian Mayes received more than 9,000 at guardian.co.uk/socialaudit calls, emails and letters in response to which he published more than 1,500 corrections or clari- 41% Newspaper ombudsmen fications. Of those to whom a response was not of Guardian Unlimited users in our survey published, the majority either received a verbal said they were aware of the user help desk The Guardian was the first British paper to set or written response, or were passed on to the and the feedback page up an independent ombudsman in 1997 to deal relevant Guardian department to deal with. with readers’ complaints. The Observer became “Issues raised with me by Guardian readers Source: reader survey, June 2004 the first Sunday paper to make a similar during the past year,” he said, “indicate not only appointment in 2001, although the role is the close scrutiny to which the paper’s journal- combined with other duties. ism is subjected but also the close relationship Interest within the media in the Guardian’s between writers and readers. These have and Observer’s system of correcting and clarify- included the reporting of suicide, as a result of ing has always been, and continues to be, which a new clause has been added to the strong, although there are still only two other Guardian’s editorial code cautioning against national newspapers in Britain which correct the inclusion of excessive detail, the payment of Living our values 15 6Livingourvalues 16 traditionally totake. liberal Some newspaper readers feltthiswasnotacrediblepositionfor justified toremoveSaddamHussein. Some column hadsaidthat theuseofforcemightbe thepaper’sbefore thewarstarted leader lingered amongsome readersthatamonth Dismay anditsaftermath. still of theconflict inated bytheIraq warandthepaper’s coverage cerns aswell.Spring2003was,naturally, dom- infelicities, thereweremoresubstantialcon- majority ofcomplaintsconcernedgrammatical ending March 2004.He the said:“While emails, letters andcallsinthefinancialyear Stephen Pritchard dealtwithmorethan6,000 Observer Readers’Editor guardian.co.uk/readerseditor be tested.” online, andafutureinwhichallourvalueswill tions oftheglobalGuardian,Guardian theimplica- toexplore from timetotime,Itry editor’s morningconference,andwithreaders, challenging imagesfromtheIraq war. paper’s decisions,forinstancetopublish the complaints,Iendorseandexplain I support making againstdeadlines.Just asfrequently give themanideaofthepressuresdecision toreadershowthesethingshappen, explain “a ‘Jewish’ terrorplot”. to AtthesametimeItry attack onaHolocaust as museuminHungary line, inoneeditiononly, toan that referred ist attack onAtochastationinMadrid; ahead- taken theterror- immediately after in apicture limb sion totonedowntheimageofasevered people;adeci- of acolumnabouttranssexual from readersonanumberofissues:thetenor tised theGuardianinresponsetocomplaints Ichas- criminals, andtheuseofswearwords. “I frequently represent readers’ views at the “I frequentlyrepresentreaders’views observer.co.uk/readerseditor ple whomatter thosewhobuythepaper.” most: attempt toimproveourrelations withthepeo- readersandstaffinanother between cussions behostingdis- the website,whichwillshortly to ourstaff. arenowavailable copycatprevent cases.These suicideto guidelines onsensitiveways toreport Samaritansissueexcellent The picture]. intothe edge, withamisleadingheadlineinset lone, unrelatedfigurestandingrightatthe witha eight-column photograph oftheclifftop both foritscontentandalsodisplay [an Beachy Head strongcriticism, drew inSussex again. seriously onthesubjectever contended that noonewouldtake Ingrams it.’ wadingthroughanavalanche After ofmailI writer hasaJewish name.Ifso,Itendnottoread government tolookat thesignature toseeifthe by letters totheeditorinsupportofIsraeli that hehad‘developed ahabitwhenconfronted mer bycolumnistRichardIngrams’ admission ate letters, callsandemails,inflamedlast sum- for forcewhenitfeltwasjustified. anti-war paperinits213years;ithasstoodup paper. hasnotalways beenan Observer The world war, news- beenabroadlyconservative famously opposedSuezhad,untilthesecond paperthat here.The isuseful perspective However, tospeed. wedonotsacrificeaccuracy instantaneously.possible topublishastory the 24-hour natureofthewebmeansthatitis process, anddistribution consuming production involvesatime- While printingnewspapers Guardian Unlimited “We pageon instigated anonlinediscussion ofadoublesuicideattempt“Our reporting at Arab-Israeli continuedtogener-“The conflict

PABLO TORRES GUERRERO /EL PAIS function ofthegrowingnumberusersaswell function —a athree-foldincreasefromyearago almost represents average 1,200 queriesaweek.This user feedbacktoeditorialandcommercialstaff. teamalso provides editor orthelegalteam.The queries ontowebsiteeditors,thereaders’ specific priate, theuserhelpteamwillrefer were introducedinthepastyear. Whereappro- suchasthedigitaleditions,bothofwhich ucts registration andsubscriptiontopaid-forprod- In userswith addition,theteamalsosupports information orbrokenrequests tocorrect links. content onthesiteandinarchive,to team. Queriesrange fromhelpwithfinding with bytheGuardianUnlimited userhelp of thewebsitearchive. top ofthestory, thusmaintainingtheintegrity at the the webarchivecanseecorrection in andreadersaccessingthearticle correction, will notappearonthewebsitewithout tages: thereadercanbereassuredthatstory Guardian Unlimited. advan- hasseveral This the papertotopoforiginalstorieson tions, clarifications andapologies,receivedby staffthenaddtheindividualcorrec- duction websitepro- The the dailycommentsection. column isputonthewebsiteandlinked from the Guardian’s andclarifications corrections written day forthewebsite.Every exclusively paper andreproducedonlinealsogoverncopy the Guardian’s tothewebsite. policy corrections the readers’editorandlegalteamtoextend priate. GuardianUnlimited workscloselywith copy checkedbyGuardianlawyers whenappro- publicationandhave before stories carefully priority istoberight.We sourceandcheck We butourtop withthestory wanttobefirst Ian Mayes Madrid’ attack onAtochastationin immediately aftertheterrorist limb inapicturetaken down theimageofasevered [including] adecisiontotone readers onanumberofissues response tocomplaintsfrom ‘I chastisedtheGuardianin Guardian readers’editor The user help section currently dealswithan currently userhelpsection The Complaints aboutwebsitecontentaredealt printedinthe rulesthatapplytoarticles The ‘Our reporting of a double suicide attempt at Beachy Head in Sussex drew strong criticism, for its content and also for its display’ Stephen Pritchard Observer readers’ editor

as the additional support required for paid-for guage; how our writers and editors present 21st-century counterpart deals with such services and registration. Our recent survey their thoughts and words to millions of readers matters as gender (the phrase “career girl” is showed that 41% of users are aware of user-help every day. banned, and female actors are no longer compared with only 23% last year. The Guardian and the Observer, like other “actresses”), disability (“wheelchair user” not Guardian Unlimited also has a feedback newspapers, maintain stylebooks intended “in a wheelchair” or “wheelchair-bound”), section where issues raised by readers are mainly as a manual for their journalists to and racial terminology (we don’t say “white- discussed and new content and services are ensure consistency and accuracy. Guidance on-white violence” and we don’t say “black- announced (guardian.co.uk/feedback). The ranges from something as simple as whether to on-black violence”). feedback editor monitors complaints, concerns spell judgment without an “e” in the middle — In an attempt to dispel the ignorance and and praise from readers and publishes a selec- on which both papers agree — to the slightly prejudice that has characterised most media tion of their views. This section also features a more complex business of whether to render coverage of the asylum issue, the guide offers weekly list of the most popular articles on the Libyan leader’s name Gadafy (the the following: “Asylum seeker: someone seek- Guardian Unlimited. Guardian) or Gadaffi (the Observer); from how ing refugee status or humanitarian protec- The web offers many more opportunities for many people died on September 11 2001, and tion; there is no such thing as an ‘illegal interaction with our stakeholders than the who the hijackers were, to which of the asylum seeker’. Refugees are people who have more traditional papers. GuardianUnlimited Teletubbies is purple. fled their home countries in fear for their offers users the chance to take part in live con- The idea is to help writers — and, more lives, and may have been granted asylum versations via talkboards with other users or importantly, readers. The Observer stylebook under the 1951 refugee convention or qualify invited specialists such as politicians, scientists, quotes Orwell (a former book reviewer for the for humanitarian protection or discretionary authors, musicians and journalists. Recent paper): “The slovenliness of our language leave, or have guests have included Basil Brush and Ann makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” been granted exceptional leave to remain in Widdecombe. If journalists cannot be trusted to spell consis- Britain. An asylum seeker can only become guardian.co.uk/liveonline tently, and follow basic rules of grammar and an illegal immigrant if he or she remains in The style guide punctuation in a coherent way, why trust them Britain after having failed to respond to a on anything else? removal notice.” It’s not just the choice of stories we cover There is much more to house style, however, The guide to Guardian style, available that is important, but also how we use lan- than a mere list of rules to follow and mistakes online since 2000, has now been published as to avoid. You only have to consider the way a book, so readers can judge for themselves. Journalists were asked whether some newspapers report on, say, mental health guardian.co.uk /styleguide the papers were responsive to the concerns of the readership (2003) or asylum to realise that the language used Coverage of related businesses (“psychos”, “bogus”), as much as the views % % % expressed, hinders rather than furthers public We have a policy of striving to be transparent Agreed/ Didn’t Disagreed/ strongly feel strongly understanding of such issues. A stylebook can when writing about companies, people or agreed strongly disagreed tell you all you need to know about a news- activities we have a financial relationship Guardian paper’s view of the world. with. That means always making plain the journalists It also says a lot about the society in which it relationship between the Guardian and the 75 2203 has been produced. The first Manchester subject being written about. Observer Guardian stylebook of 1928 tells of a forgotten Part of retaining trust with our readers journalists era of “Free-traders” and “the Empire”, offering means remaining fiercely independent even 543016 detailed advice on how to describe servants. Its when it comes to criticising our own senior Living our values 17 Case study: photographs ‘Do we have the right to display the graphic reality of suffering in a shocking yet moving picture?’

Pick up any copy of the Guardian or the corrections and clarifications column said cate- want the message softened and those who were Observer and count the pictures. We print gorically: “ We should have indicated that it had anxious about children and relatives. more photographs than there are pages. One been done and preferably explained why it had Roger Alton, the editor of the Observer, recent 30-page Guardian news section, chosen been done. The paper has a rule that its pictures commented: “It was the subject of a great deal of at random, carried 58 photographs — illustra- are not altered.” discussion among senior staff in the office on tions, teasers and picture bylines are extra. And Some readers wanted the unvarnished story. Saturday. I felt that the figures of the dead yet there are few established rules to guide us in One saw an unaltered version of the picture in a coming out of Bam were so huge as to be almost our use of images. The PCC merely cautions Spanish paper and complained: “My feeling is unimaginable. I wanted to say that behind those against the use of “misleading or distorted either print the photo or don’t. Are we not figures lay a personal tragedy for so many peo- material including pictures” and the Guardian’s grown up enough here for the truth?” Others ple, so many parents, but I’m willing to accept I editorial code says simply: “Digitally enhanced were more concerned about the impact on their might have been wrong to choose that picture or altered images, montages and illustrations children or with the feelings of the families of and I apologise to all who were upset by it.” should be clearly labelled as such.” This doesn’t victims. In the end, the question of trust was In the end, the image was an award winner at mean there is no discussion or disagreement judged to be paramount. The readers’ editor the World Press Photo competition. “However,” about the use of certain images. The Guardian’s concluded in his column: “It is essential, if says the Observer’s picture editor, “the bigger readers’ editor has devoted 22 Open Door readers are to believe what they see in the impact was the effect it had on readers. One, columns to discussing ethical problems raised paper, that no internal editing of a presented Peter Waugh from Kings Heath in Birming- by the visual presentation of stories since 1997, image takes place. If it does, readers should be ham, saw it on his birthday and used money he five of them in the first six months of 2004. told about it straight away. Both the editor of had received as a gift to have the picture The very fact that the discussion is constant, the Guardian and the deputy editor (news) told enlarged. He took it to his local high street and and often inconclusive, points to the unique me that the decision was taken with the best of used the power of the image to collect some nature of each ethical problem. The Observer’s intentions and against a deadline. They now £300 from the passing public to give to the Red picture editor, Greg Whitmore, underlines this thought, with hindsight, that it had been a Cross to help the victims of the earthquake.” point of view: “There is no written code of mistake to alter the colour.” Similar discussions took place over our use of ethics for photography,” he says. “Every picture A similar division of opinion took place over pictures of humiliated Iraqis in Abu Ghraib jail, we consider is judged independently, in the an Observer page one picture, which accompa- as well as a photograph of someone who had died context of the news story. You have to bring to nied a report of January’s earthquake in Bam. It of Aids in Kenya. The question of consent was bear your own and your colleagues’ experi- showed a man carrying his two dead children important in all these cases and, although the ences. Empathy, not sympathy, plays a big part. away for burial. One was slumped over his consent of the family had been given in the Aids What would the mother of a victim of the shoulder and the other was cradled in his arms case, consent from those recognisably photo- Madrid bombings think if she saw the photo?” with the face clearly in view. The internal graphed in Abu Ghraib prison could not be The Atocha attack was one case where the debate as well as the response from readers sought. One reader complained: “Please, please discussion of whether we should have altered moved the Observer’s readers’ editor, Stephen replace the image of the naked Iraqi on your the horrific image of carnage on the tracks Pritchard, to give over an entire Sunday column front page and world news page with something attracted opposing opinions. On Friday March to the discussion. He posed the following ques- less upsetting. It is shameful enough that he has 12, the Guardian carried across the full width of tion: “Newspapers seek to help readers imagine been abused in such a way, but for you to broad- its front page a colour photograph of the scene. the unimaginable, but does that give us the cast his humiliation to all your online readers It was digitally altered to remove colour and right to display the graphic reality of suffering worldwide is certainly adding insult to injury.” reduce the impact of a severed limb in the in such a shocking yet moving picture?”Again, The Guardian’s readers’ editor thought that, in foreground. On the following Tuesday, the the two main camps were those who didn’t a case like this: “There is, I suggest, some confu- 18 Living our values them. Most photojournalists have strong views against manipulation and the freelances we routinely commission share these feelings. Things get a bit murkier when we don’t know the source of a picture, something found on the web, for example. Any doubts we have should be flagged up in the picture caption.” Greg Whitmore says vigilance has been increased in the wake the fake Mirror torture pictures: “Fortunately, this kind of elaborate hoax occurs infrequently. However, digital photos taken by non-professionals, like the pictures emanating from Abu Ghraib, are becoming more and more frequent. The commissioned photographers we use are totally professional and trustworthy — we have built up relationships with award-winning photojournalists over many years. The major photo agencies also thrive on their reputations and can be trusted. It is newspapers’ require- ment for immediacy, exacerbated by rolling 24-hour TV news coverage, that can cause problems. With unsolicited images appearing via email, the picture desk has to be vigilant. The experience of the desk and the healthy suspicion brought to bear are invaluable.” Photographs are also a key part of the Guardian Unlimited offering. We can publish a photograph immediately a story breaks, show-

ATTA KENARE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES ATTA ing users what is happening before extensive This photograph of a man carrying his two dead reports emerge. This happened after 9/11 and sion here between the crime and evidence of the sons to their graves after the Bam earthquake the Madrid bombing. Themed photo sites can crime. Publication of the photograph does not was used on the front page of the Observer. Did it also be posted and can live there for an unlim- infringe the man’s human rights; but it does amount to intrusion in grief? Photo: Atta Kenare ited time. Recent galleries have included all the graphically convey an infringement of his rights.” Abu Ghraib torture photographs, the Israeli He went on to point out: “The editor of the plaints or queries about pictures fall roughly incursion into Rafah, the transit of Venus, and Guardian strongly defends the decision to carry into three categories: “They suggest that an the funeral of Ronald Reagan. the picture as it was received by the paper and image has been electronically manipulated; Management of the pictures on GU is decen- not to mask the face. He feels the paper made a that the picture should not have been used at all tralised. The editor of each of the 15 sites is mistake at the beginning of the Iraq war when, for ethical reasons or reasons of taste; or that responsible for selecting photographs. In prac- after a request from the Ministry of Defence, it the caption material is wrong or relates to a tice this means a wide range of people — 40 or pixelated the face of an Iraqi soldier who had picture other than the one published. Queries 50 editors, desk staff and subs — crop and surrendered to US marines. He said that to have about the authenticity of pictures seem to be on upload photographs. There is no picture editor continued to do that, or to do it systematically, the increase.” And that probably reflects the or dedicated picture desk. The GU news editor, would change the face of war reporting.” huge volume of images flowing into the Sheila Pulham, said: “We consult colleagues to That division between those who want us to retrieval system used by both of our main get a feel for where the boundaries of taste lie. show reality and those who want us to protect picture desks. The Guardian and Observer When in doubt we err on the side of caution. others is fairly even among readers who are receive around 4,500 photographs a day. This The editor has the final say on suitability on moved to let us know their views. Interestingly, has steadily risen from around 1,500 a day photos. We also have to bear in mind that if we the relative emphases shifted considerably in before 9/11; on the day of the twin towers attack web-publish a photo it can be downloaded by our latest survey, which found readers more the number of photographs received shot up to any other web user and reproduced out of con- concerned with the verity and reliability of 3,000; it reached 4,000 on the first anniversary text on any other site. We very rarely receive images than their effect on children (see the and has now settled to an average of 4,500 a complaints about photos, which helps us think graphic, below). day. On occasion it becomes a blizzard — dur- we have the balance more or less right.” Ian Mayes noted in April this year that com- ing Euro 2004 it peaked at 6,600. “The selec- So, in the absence of a comprehensive set of tion process has never been so complicated and rules we rely on our values and our experience Photographs I am concerned the choice never so bewildering,” says Greg in the ethical choice of images to illustrate should not be that children Whitmore, the picture editor of the Observer. stories (we do, of course, observe the legal ‘sanitised’ by the should not be application of exposed to So how do we guarantee the authenticity of requirements on the publication of photo- digital certain violent pictures, beyond simply having a stated code of graphs of minors and the European convention techniques images practice? Roger Tooth, the Guardian’s picture of human rights on privacy, also contained in Guardian editor, is blunt about the difficulty. “How do we the PCC code). Some of the recorded examples know a picture is a true and unaltered represen- of bigger discussions that have taken place this 4.4 3.3 tation of an event?” he asks. “The simple answer year provide us with a sort of case law that can is that we don’t. It’s all a matter of trust. We trust inform future dilemmas: do we treat black and Observer our own photographers not to alter anything. white people the same in our use of pictures 4.4 3.2 We wouldn’t put them under so much pressure (pictures of the dead particularly); do we treat Guardian to produce a telling image that they might be things that are near and far evenhandedly or do Unlimited tempted to change anything electronically. The we show the prejudice of distance; are the 4.1 3.3 big agencies like AP and Reuters have strict reasons for using a picture so strong that they Reader survey, June 2004. Answers expressed on a scale of 1 to 5: 1 = strong dis- rules against manipulation. We feel we can trust outweigh the possibility of offence, or the shock agreement, 3 = neutral, and 5 = strong agreement. Figures shown are averages Living our values 19 0Livingourvalues 20 ours alone.” ordered outorpressuredtostay. decisionis The weare happytoremain.Wewhether arenot authoritarian tradition,editorsregularlyask the ground.In linewiththeGuardian’s non- mood, andyouareseenasaspy. from apersoninthecrowdmay change the storiesout.Asuddenword victims’ can get Journalists may bewelcomedaswitnesseswho withangerorsuspiciontomorrow.seething safe tostay orbetter togo. funeral isunderway, itis yousensewhether emotionallycharged killed, oraparticularly been anattack, peoplehave several justbeen day today, hourtohour. andeven Iftherehas dominated byrisk.Itvaries fromplaceto place, is Steele recentlywrotethat“warreporting correspondentJonathan veteran ground. The have reporters donespellsonthe contract where eightmembersofstaffaswelltwo inIraq,for foreigncorrespondents,particularly time lastfinancialyearhasbeenadifficult The Foreign reporting put indanger. oraforeigncorrespondent’scourt, lifebeing ofdamages in lead tomillionsofpoundsworth seem daunting.Put onefootwronganditcan investigators atbay. to hidewhathashappenedandkeep home andabroad,areregularlydeployedtotry forces inbusinessandgovernment, bothat butcourage aswell.Verynewspaper powerful honesty andintegrity thatmakes agreat itisnotjust CPScottAs observed, shrewdly as well but courage newspaper great makes a that integrity and honesty It isnotjust In thecaseofbattle forFalluja, several “Judging on toreporters theriskisbestleft “A whichmay street becalmtoday canbe To faceuptotheseforcescansometimes strophic collapseofZimbabwe’s economy and diligently andbravely chronicledthecata- inMayforcibly deported having 2003after and Zimbabwe correspondent,wasabducted Meldrum,territories. Andrew thepaper’s inIsraelous circumstances andtheoccupied Jerusalem danger- correspondent,filesinoften McGreal,operate. Chris theGuardian’s comesanywhereOnly Chechnya close.” worst workingconditionsIhave hadtoface. ern AfricaandCentralAmerica,thesearethe West BankandGaza,plusearlierwarsinsouth- struck theSheratonotherday. through.One canget though here,too,mortars all-night floodlightskeep theenemy atbay — miniature greenzone.US tanks,razorwire,and and Sheraton hotels,which have theirown out.Manyto get have tothePalestine retreated have receivedanonymous noteswarningthem whousedtorenthouses threats. Reporters capital, too.Ourtranslatorsaregetting death unofficialcheckpoints. unexpected, camethemenaceofhostage-taking at Then guard forcar-jackingsanddrive-byshootings. mainly outsideBaghdad.We hadtobeonour Initially,journalists tofunction. thedanger was impossiblefor month ithasbecomevirtually rising remorselessly, andwithinthespaceofa have levels been 2004, Steelewrote:“Threat Falluja familieswhoescapedtoBaghdad. couldbyinterviewing didwhatthey and they thedanger wasnotworth important, however McCarthy decidedthestory,colleague Rory men. Jonathan SteeleandhisGuardian intothebesieged cityget wereseizedbygun- journalists whoweredesperatetobethefirst It isnotjustinIraq thatitisdangerousto “Compared withKosovo,Afghanistan,the “Now thekidnappershave struckinthe Describing theIraq situation inthespringof Poopoo —stonedoncannabisandcrack.They so-called generalswithnameslike Cairo manned checkpointswitholderboys— cover. barelytallerthantheirAK-47s Children dangerous to Liberia lastAugustwasextremely but thestyle offightingwassoanarchic that government troopswantedtokilljournalists “Neither therebelsbesiegingcapitalnor ahappyending.”giving thestory Taylorstopped andCharles wentintoexile, can andNigeriantroopsdeployed,thefighting Ameri- ing did,Ithink,nudgethemintoaction. ofthesuffer- reporting dithering, butextensive andAfricanstateswere want tointervene US didnot The helped resolvetheconflict. Liberia wasthatthemediacoverage probably made adifference. present fromtheGuardianandothermedia ofwhere havingis anexample reporters carried outwithcalmprofessionalism.Liberia Liberia; aterriblydangerous assignment Taylordent, witnessedthefallofCharles in at somerisktoherself. into thecountry Guardian’s Colombiastringer alsoventured SybillaBrodzinsky,dangerous forreporters. the volatile and wasextremely tion inthecountry dent Aristidethrownoutofpower. situa- The Haiti, whichsaw duringtherevolution Presi- fromPort reports extraordinary auPrince, Youngearound theglobe.Gary producedsome coverage ofthemany lesserknownconflicts conflagrations butalsoensurethatweprovide described himasa“beaconforpressfreedom”. Awards inJune 2003singledoutMeldrum and judges oftheOneWorldrights. The Media its government’s forhuman lackofrespect Describing histimeinLiberia,Carrollsaid: satisfying thingabout “The Carroll said: Carroll, thepaper’sRory Africacorrespon- We intocoveringmajor donotjustputeffort

KARIM SAHIB organisations mightshy away from. that othermorecommerciallymindedmedia putting resourcesinto investigationsObserver many casesthat canmeantheGuardianand in accordancewithone’sdence toact In beliefs. ous situations, butisalsoshownbytheconfi- Courage notonlymeansdealingwithdanger- UK coverage can quicklystale.” Johannesburg copyandthat agency rewriting roadblock,overthebridge. thenext beyond ity, too,wantingtoknowwhat’s happening as well.Ideally you’d wanttohave both.Curios- It helps.Butatasteforadrenalinecanworkjust wouldfeellike.feet shot cleanoffandwonderingwhat prosthetic ing ofaguyI’d were whosefeet interviewed bridge —waving awhiteT-shirt. Ikept think- rebels andwalked acrossthefrontline—a some colleaguesandIdecidedtovisitthe had inhersights. behind alooterwhomfemalecommander Another timeImadethemistake ofsquatting was coweringbesideshothimselfinthefoot. AboyI into battle wasstillnerve-racking. bunch ofkidscalledJungle FireBattalion butfollowinga rowed aBBCflakjacket, by shrapnelwhilesitting inacar. Ihadbor- restaurant. Anothertimeajournalistwashit whizzedthroughthe peared whenabullet landed largely atrandom. shooting.Mortars weregoingtostart they seldom gave warningaboutwhereandwhen tended towelcomethemediaasanovelty but weapons inLiberiaOctober2003 Movement for Democracy brandishtheir of Americans’;young soldiers (right)ofthe reads, inbroken English,‘Falluja, thecemetery War zones:anIraqi boy (left)holdsaleafletthat in Iraq,spring2004 Jonathan Steele capital, too’ kidnappers have struckinthe checkpoints. Now the unexpected, unofficial menace ofhostage-takingat shootings. Then camethe car-jackings anddrive-by ‘We hadtobeonourguardfor “The alternative wasstaying at my deskin “The “Is courage neededforsuchanassignment? mostdangerous incidentwaswhen “The “Any at illusionofsafety thehoteldisap- names includingSamsungandSainsbury’s. pittance wagestomake goods for household enslaved“illegals” werebeingvirtually andpaid thewaysucceeded inexposing Chinese of Taiwanese Hsaio-Hung extraction, Pai, they Working undercoverwithatalentedjournalist people intheunderbellyofBritishsociety. sought tobringlightthefateofforgotten could influencearmspurchases. toaSaudiprincewho in cashandbenefits payingSystems, insecretly millionsofpounds cating Britain’s armscompany, biggest BAE ofcompany accountsimpli- was thediscovery climaxofthis cians inforeigncountries.The of politi- ments have colludedwiththebribery theway successiveBritishgovern- documented series oncorruptioninthearmstrade,which smoking. by governmentstoraisecigarette taxesorban aroundtheworld,hamperingefforts smuggling involvement incigarette active ments depicting Tobacco pilesofcompany docu- unearthed aremuchlessaccountable. but they thatusedtobedonebygovernments, activity private companiesaretakingoverswaths of trated recentlyonbehaviour bybigbusiness: concealed orhardtoinvestigate. It hasconcen- abuses inBritishsociety, whicharenormally seeks todotwo thingswhicharedifferent. investigations The team skims thesurface. Normal day-day-day only journalisminevitably trates ontheissueoffreedominformation. enced journalists,David whoconcen- Leigh, investigation unitledbyoneofourmostexperi- the creation intheGuardianofaspecialist In anotherbiginvestigation thisyear, Leigh teamfollowedthisupwithamajor The ofBritishAmerican exposure A detailed toshinealightonmajor firstistotry The changeOne key overthepastyearhasbeen

NIC BOTHMA/EPA freedom of information act comesin. freedom ofinformation act Guardian journalistsinthefuture,as for all going tobecomemoreimportant whichis daily demandstobuildupanexpertise Guardianallowstheteamtime awayThe from battles expensive. arelengthy andsometimes overpriced warplane. and spent£5billionoftaxpayers’ onan money ment theway officialadvice ministersdefied investigations unitwasalsoseekingtodocu- the Guardianwasseeking. ofinterests oftheconflicts over toherdetails orderontheombudsmanandhand gagging Iraq war. It wasalsoforcedtowithdraw a sial legaladviceitreceivedonthelegality ofthe to handovertheombudsmancontrover- orthreatenedtodoso. court, blocked, wehave taken thegovernmentto instances whentheombudsmanherselfis appealstotheombudsman.Andin often tions todoso.Whenitisblocked, theteam topublishdespitemanyrefuses recommenda- financial interest,whichthegovernment of ofministers’conflicts details extracting Under thislegislation,theteamisslowly replaced byafreedomofinformationact. tobe under itsownaccesscode,whichisshortly information fromthegovernment extract society. It hasaprogrammeofrequeststo flow ofinformation inwhatisstillasecretive toimprovethe work isusingcreative methods Sudan. domestic slave byadiplomatfrom inLondon asylumforayoungwomankepting get asa Rory Carroll Rory cannabis andcrack’ Cairo Poopoo –stonedon generals withnameslike with olderboys –so-called AK-47s mannedcheckpoints ‘Children barelytallerthantheir in Liberia,August 2003 “It is also an effort tomovejournalismaway“It isalsoaneffort freedomofinformation “These said: Leigh At thetimeofpublicationthisaudit, In thisway, thegovernmenthas been forced othersideoftheinvestigation unit’sThe Our storieswerealsoinstrumentalinhelp- Living ourvalues 21 2Livingourvalues 22 deep andunseentruththroughhuman storiesarean attemptThe that toconvey don’tjustice andwecertainly have asystem’. really catchcriminals,wedon’t reallydo justice systemwhoshrugandsay ‘wedon’t people, toseniorofficialswhorunthecriminal say thereisnopointinjailingandfining tojudgeswho to sendcriminalsisacourtroom, whosay want thelastplacethey to prosecutors who say arefedupwitharrestingpeople, they collapsed. Ihave spoken constables tochief punishing offenders—turnsouttohave system —theideathat wecancontrolcrimeby cornerstoneofthe arerotten.they very The foundations ofthesystem—andfoundthat By workingat thatdepth, wehave the exposed attempted insuchdepth. tocoverthesubject with it. workers, youthworkers andcriminalswhodeal of thesystemaswelllawyers, social level scoresofpeoplewhoworkatevery viewed pilesofstatistics—andinter- annual reports, — academicjournals,government research, Davies hastrawled throughacresofpaperwork lished copy, 25,000ontheway. withafurther work andgeneratedsome75,000 wordsofpub- has alreadyinvolved morethan18months’ It thescaleofproject. not begintoexpress tem forthepaper. simplestatementdoes That has beeninvestigating thecriminaljusticesys- freelance journalistworkingfortheGuardian, of publicinterest.For NickDavies, example, a other journalistsarededicatedtoprobingareas possible.” onthewebwherever put originaldocuments in turntomake uptheirownminds.We to try enablesreaders This mation anddocuments. towards workwhichisbasedongenuine infor- from ‘spin’ andoff-the-recordbriefings He said: “No Fleet Street newspaper hasever newspaper Street “No Fleet He said: Outside oftheinvestigations team’s work,

SARAH LEE and keep fit. to lieinhelpingthemdomoreexercise parents, foreating toomuch;thesolutionhas enough simplytocriticisechildren,ortheir Weunfit andoverweight. didn’t thinkitwas increasing numberofchildrenwereunhealthy, began lastyearasitbecameclearthatan action. on theissueandspurredgovernment to Denis Campbell,whichsetthenational agenda editor, Jo andthesportscorrespondent Revill, paign aboutchildhoodobesity ledbyitshealth campaigning. FitfortheFuture wasa cam- project.” imagine)thiskindof afford (oreven commercial forcesbyitstrustownershipcan from whichisrelativelyprotected newspaper stories whichhelptosellthenewspaper. Onlya aretheretoproducequick,safe reporters iscompromisedbycommercialism: the country in othernewspaper workofevery would. The this, becausenootherBritishnewspaper interest. Guardian investigations unit on thework ofthe David Leigh make uptheirown minds’ This enablesreadersinturnto information anddocuments. which isbasedongenuine towardsrecord briefings work away from spinand off-the- tomove‘It isaneffort journalism “We thoughtthatoneofthebestnational FitfortheFuture “The campaign said: Revill alsoconcentrates resources on Observer The done “No hasever otherBritishnewspaper

BEN GRANVILLE litigious society and this has affected themedia andthishasaffected litigious society recent yearswehave becomeanincreasingly Courage doesnotmeanbeingreckless.In Legal of femaleprisoners. being senttoprisonandthetragedy ofsuicides charity, tohighlightthehugeriseinwomen for Penal andNacro, Reform theex-offenders’ the Prison ReformTrust, theHoward League worked closelywithprisoncharities including ment ofwomeninBritain’s paper prisons.The Behind Bars,toraiseconcernsaboutthetreat- contributed totheongoingcampaign,Women good coachesandthefacilities.” their schoolsaretheonesleastlikely tohave the fromhealthfacilities,and arefurthest fit; they problems inensuringtheirchildrencanremain that thepoorestfamiliesfacegreatest theproblems.Whathasbecomeclearis discuss debate, organisedbytheObserver,evening to over thecampaign,whichledinJanuary toan halls. andswimming give childrenfreeaccesstogyms lic healththisautumn,itwillincludeplansto publishes hislong-awaited whitepaperonpub- that approach.Itmay bethatwhenJohn Reid obesity earlierthisyearhasledthemtorethink However, onchildhood theenormousfocus soquickly,of sport giventhelackoffacilities. theirhours schoolstoexpand realistic toexpect ernment, withministerssaying thatitwasnot doso. over halfcurrently aweekbutjust offer atleasttwo hours’sport do. We feelthat allschoolsshouldbeableto currently thanthey children farmoreactivity offering solutions wouldbeforschoolstostart Several journalists on the Observer have journalistsontheObserver Several “We didhave alotoffeedbackfrom readers wasamixedresponsefromthegov- “There

GRAHAM TURNER the caseinvolves amemberoftheroyalfamily. and when thatpersonisaformerroyalservant the orderrestraining thepress,particularly public hadtherighttoknowwhowasgetting Prince ofWales. editor’s The wasthe view publication ofallegations abouthimandthe person whohadobtainedanorderbanningthe vented usfromnamingMichael Fawcett asthe mark case,wechallengedanorderthatpre- justice andfreedomofinformation.In aland- has manifesteditselfincasesconcerningopen and in thepast12monthsthis of expression, bonded labour. debt- gangmasters andcheap,illegal,even anditsrelianceon multinational foodindustry tion team’s inthe exploitation exposing articles into thepublicdomain,suchasinvestiga- somehard-hittingwith journaliststoget stories stories.” andlibel-proof sources, handledocuments when underattack. Andabouthowtoprotect the paper, them,andyou, aboutdefending don’ting they knowaboutgetting storiesinto isalmostnoth- Alan Rusbridger wrote:“There them tousethelawyers more systematically, gotoprint. they stories before checking newsrooms, Guardian andObserver lawyers systeminthe whoworkonashift investigative andapoolofoutside articles lawyers whoworkonlonger-term,difficult ateamofthree website, GNLhasdeveloped challenging storiesintoourpapersandonthe ensure thatwehave thebestchanceofgetting publication ofstoriesinthepublicinterest.To ofcallforthoseseekingtostopthe first port inparticular. the areoften industry courts The We have seentheincreasinguseofanti- arechampionsoffreedom newspapers The Over thepastyear, thelegalteamhasworked In amemo toeditorialstaff, encouraging without chargeortrial foreign nationalheldfor two years interviewed MahmoudAbuRidher, a legal team,gainedaccesstoand Gillan who,aftermonthsofwork by our national agendaonobesity; andAudrey Fit for theFuturecampaignset Observer healtheditor, JoRevill, whose justice systemfor theGuardian; written 100,000words onthecriminal investigation unit;NickDavies, whohas who leadstheGuardian’s specialist Chinese labourinBritain;David Leigh, Hung Pai, whoexposed exploitation of Investigators (from lefttoright):Hsaio- Observer healtheditor Jo Revill and overweight’ of childrenwere unhealthy, unfit clear thatanincreasingnumber began lastyear asitbecame ‘The Fitfor theFuturecampaign Authority. For reasonsthat were never handing thecasetoFinancialServices publicity, fromtheaction, suddenlywithdrew Interbrew, perhapswoundedbyhostile journalist andtheeditor. Surprisingly andthepossibleimprisonmentof assets threatening hugefinancial penalties,seizuresof tofindtheGuardianincontempt, the court upheld Interbrew’s order. Interbrew appliedto ofappeal court might identifyasource.The orderapapertodisclosematerialthat the court should circumstances only intrulyexceptional proposed takeover. abouta has postedconfidentialdocuments ananonymous toexpose sourcewho newspaper the Belgiancompany diditsbesttoforcethe one oftheworld’s inwhich breweries, biggest byInterbrew,the receivingendofalegalaction toupholdthisprinciple. into legalactions drawnjournalistic principleandweareoften theinterview.refuse hisdecisionto reversed eventually secretary launched alegalchallengeandthehome proceedings.Weoutcome ofextradition yearsawaitingwho hasbeenheldforseven the remandprisoner, thelongest-serving interview permissionforaGuardianjournalistto refused Homemiscarriages ofjustice.The Office otherprisonerstoinvestigate alleged interview charge ortrial. been locked upforovertwo yearswithout Mahmoud AbuRidher,interviewed whohas Gillan ist involvement and,asaresult,Audrey withoutcharge onsuspicionofterror- detained foreign nationals won therighttointerview theGuardian monthsoflegalaction several terrorism legislation overthepastyear. After We toarguethat joinedothernewspapers In along-runningcase,theGuardianwason ofsourcesisafundamental protection The We have alsocampaignedfortherightto Living ourvalues 23

SEAN SMITH 4Livingourvalues 24 voiceless.” always donebest—givingavoicetothe GuardianhascontinuedtodowhatThe ithas lar causesandchallenged thepopularconsensus. — onourdruglaws. It haschampionedunpopu- allowed adebate —stifledelsewherefortoolong warmongersAfghans, poets, andpeaceniks…It 2001, itopeneditspages toMuslims, rabbis, ofSeptember 11 among others.Aftertheevents andtoprisoners, dissidents, topublicservants republicans —whetherIrish orBritish—to In recenttimesthishasinvolved givingvoiceto on‘inthespiritofheretofore’.tion only:tocarry the editorofGuardianreceivesoneinstruc- Rusbridger wrotein2002:“Onappointment, tomake uptheirownmindsonsubjects. essary havethey andinformation theopportunity nec- sothat is givingreadersabroadrange ofviews marginalised inpublicdebate,andthesecond or excluded voice tothosewhoareoften firstistogive when itcomestofairness.The that may conducetothehappinessofsociety.” species ofknowledge dissemination ofevery istruthandthe independence —wholeobject principleis time ofitslaunchstated:“Whole at the principles inmind.Anadvertisement est Sunday newspaper, wascreated withsimilar Observer, launchedin1791 andtheworld’s old- measures”.serviceable Its sisterpaper, the emanate, all fromwhich they ence totheparty withoutrefer- cause ofreform,and“support, religious liberty, wouldwarmlyadvocate the zealously enforcetheprinciplesofciviland chester Guardian183yearsagosaiditwould oftheMan- announcingthebirth prospectus andwebsites.The fabricofournewspapers very At GNL,theconceptoffairnessisbuiltinto Fairness be heard’ has arightto that offriends no lessthan opponents ‘The voice of With regardtomarginalisation, Alan aretwo guidingprincipleswefollow There points inbetween. SinceIhave beenonthisdesk, —andall to libertarians ers, socialconservatives to communists,Islamists toIsraeli settlers’ lead- whole), ranging fromrightwing US Republicans pages (and,morewidely, inthepaper asa the breadthofcommentthat wehave inour succeed. No otherpaperthat Iamaware ofhas language newspaper —and,Iwouldsay, range ofopinionavailable inany English comment pages aimtoprovidethebroadest editedbySeumasMilne.section, He said:“The ent viewpointsistheCommentandAnalysis Unlimited scored3.8. andGuardian scored 4.2,whiletheObserver means youdisagreestrongly),theGuardian (where fivemeansyouagreestronglyandone from arange ofwriters. Onascaleofonetofive ontheIraqbroad range ofperspectives war survey, wehadpresenteda weasked whether web usersthink?In ourJune 2004readers’ butwhatdoourreadersand ofviews, spectrum orhindrance.”without let andchallenge business ofbeingfreetoreport global businessinterestsiscrucialtothe ties and absenceofproprietorial The structure. to take becauseoftheuniqueownership of theindependentstandsbothpapersareable breadth ofcoverage wasaringingendorsement New York. AtthetimeRusbridger wrote:“The oftheWorldthe destruction Trade Centrein wasalsothecaseafter This Osama binLaden. intheBushadministration to conservatives washeard,rangingfromneo- ofviews section point where,intheGuardian,ahugecross- right tobeheard.” Iraq The warisagoodcasein of opponentsnolessthanthatfriendshasa CP Scott wasclear. voice He wrotein1921:“The George Bush,FidelCastro andOsamabinLadenhave allappearedontheGuardiancommentpages The Guardian’sThe mainforumforairingdiffer- It’s onethingforustothinkweareofferinga On thequestionofofferingarange ofviews,

MANNIE GARCIA Krauthammer toLabour’s AnnClwyd.” voices, fromtheWashington Post’s Charles hostile, wehave carriedarange ofpro-war although thebulkofpiecesarecriticalor Or,right perspectives. overtheIraq war, have and hadproandantivoicesfrombothleft intheEUconstitutiondebate,we example, cant approachesinany debate. key So,for togiveourreadersthefullrange ofsignifi- try Butourapproachisto gressive, liberalculture. inthatpro- theirimportance tends toreflect tions. Andthebalanceofopinionsonpages inlinewiththeGuardian’scentre-left, tradi- able nowhereelseinthemainstream press. voice toallmannerofothervoicesthat areavail- Subcomandante Marcos. hasgiven section The as wellFidelCastro,OsamabinLadenand and theIsraeli foreignminister, Silvan Shalom— we have Bush,Margaret hadGeorge Thatcher closely followedby94%at theObserver. affiliation, 96%ofGuardianreadersagreed, independent quality journalismfreefromparty theScottreflects Trust’s missiontoproduce weprovide. value theservice customers overall resultsshowconclusivelythatour The andusersofGuardianUnlimited.Observer 2,500 regularreadersoftheGuardianand weoffervalueformoney.sion towhether weliveuptoourmis- our coverage andwhether covering arange oftopics fromthequality of thatincludedquestions asurvey conducted yearwe ask them.Soforthesecondconsecutive andwebsitesisto think aboutournewspapers bestway offindingoutwhatourreaders The Readers’ feedback “The centreofpoliticalgravity onthepages“The is On the question of whether ourcontent On thequestionofwhether inJune survey of2004wasansweredby The

AP/MBT ALEJANDRO ERNESTO We were particularly encouraged by the believe they are given freedom of expression response to the request to rate our coverage in unrivalled on Fleet Street. There is also a strong big sections, ranging from home and foreign concurrence of views between the Guardian and news to features and sport. In all 20 areas of the Observer staff, except on the question of Guardian we showed an improvement over last whether the papers are true to their mission and year. On the Observer there was a better rating remit. in every area, except for a marginal decline in our cinema coverage and at Guardian Unlim- Global circulation and influence ited there was an improvement in 19 of the 22 parts of the site. Readers and web users were Our influence goes well beyond the number of asked to score the quality of each section using papers we sell. Even when the Guardian was a scale of one to five, with five representing based in Manchester, its reputation had long excellent and one meaning poor. Across all spread beyond merely British bounds. At the areas, the Guardian and Guardian Unlimited zenith of CP Scott’s editorship, the circulation scored an average of 4.1, and the Observer 3.9. was a mere 50,000 and only 20,000 of those When asked to measure how individual copies were sold more than 20 miles from the sections compared with when the readers first Manchester office. But the values and sense of started reading them regularly, we gained a clean purpose behind them were universal and sweep, with readers and users feeling every inspiring to reformers everywhere. section of the papers and website had improved. One measure of our success therefore is to While the quality of our products is para- look at our circulation figures for the papers, the mount, it is important for readers to feel they number of users for the websites, and our are receiving value for money. Asking them to geographical spread. GNL’s greatest success over score us on a scale of one to five, where five the past few years has been the rapid growth in means excellent value for money, half gave the web users, with Guardian Unlimited now the Guardian full marks with another 43% giving a most popular newspaper website in the UK. The score of four. On the Observer 80% gave a score number of users in May 2004, compared with of four or five. For users of the web, there is the same month two years before, nearly doubled little point having quality content if the site is to 9.6 million, while the number of visits leapt difficult to find one’s way around: 98% of the over the same period from13.3 million to 1,200 web users who answered our survey 22.8 million. The number of page impressions, found it very or fairly easy to navigate round ‘I heard of columnists, even separate pages opened by readers, is now GU; 83% found that we constantly or usually famous ones, who on other consistently more than 100 million a month. satisfy their need for news better than other papers have their chosen GU has a geo-targeting system, which enables available sources, a raise from last year’s 75%. subjects vetted, their texts it to identify the approximate location of visitors to different parts of the website. In the financial Writers’ feedback changed, their direction year ending March 2004, users logged on from questioned. In 16 years more than 200 countries, virtually every country To maintain our reputation as an independent columnising for the Guardian, in the world, with users from the US making up voice, the company gives its journalists a great around 40% of our audience. Canada, Germany, deal of editorial freedom. The Guardian has I haven’t on a single occasion Australia, France and Japan followed. Traffic always been known in the media industry as a had an idea rejected or a jumped noticeably during the Iraq war as many writer’s paper. In 1920 Arthur Ransome, now word changed’ Americans turned their backs on what they more famous for his book Swallows and Hugo Young considered a compliant domestic media and Amazons, told CP Scott: “I am unwilling to turned to the more independent coverage on GU. write for any other English daily paper. There is Since then the number of users from across the simply no other paper in which I can write with Atlantic has continued to grow rapidly. the same freedom as in the Guardian.” Alistair In contrast, the newspaper market in general Cooke wrote in 1959 that “no staff members of a is gently declining, with sales of the Guardian daily paper that I have heard of, on either side in particular being strongly affected in the of the Atlantic, are so free from instruction or short-term by the Independent’s decision to the subtler menace of editorial ‘guidance’.” change to a tabloid format (see page 11 for ABC Hugo Young, the then columnist, wrote in circulation figures). 2000: “I hear of columnists, even famous ones, The Guardian and Observer continue to have who on other papers have their chosen subjects a larger proportion of full-priced sales vetted, their texts changed, their direction compared with our competitors: 84% of all questioned. In 16 years columnising for the Guardian copies are sold at full price compared Guardian, I haven’t on a single occasion had an with two-thirds at the Times and just over half Journalists were asked if they idea rejected or a word changed.” believed they had more freedom at the Daily Telegraph. In the Sunday market The Guardian also differs from other news- than at other newspapers (2003) 85% of Observers are full price compared with papers in the openness of how it develops its 81% at the Sunday Times and 40% at the % % % news agenda. Any editorial member of staff can Agreed/ Didn’t Disagreed/ Sunday Telegraph. attend the morning conference at which that strongly feel strongly The Guardian Weekly, with average sales of morning’s paper is evaluated and the main agreed strongly disagreed 86,000, has also been important in building a themes are discussed for the next day’s edition. Guardian loyal band of followers overseas. The paper, We carried out an independent survey of all journalists which includes items from the Observer, editorial staff on both the Guardian and 76 2103 Le Monde and the Washington Post, is read by Observer in 2003 to see whether we still adhere Observer more than 250,000 people across 86 countries, to our core principles. This survey will be journalists some of which are ruled by repressive regimes. repeated every two years. The results show 80 1505 The paper is printed in London, Kiama, near conclusively that the vast majority of staff Sydney (for the Australasian market) and Source: employee survey, March 2003 Living our values 25 How readers and users see us

Are you aware that the Are you aware that the We are interested in your views about our coverage of the Iraq war over the past Guardian is owned by a Observer is owned by the year. Answers are on a scale of one to five, where five means strong agreement, trust whose mission is to Scott Trust which also three is neither agreement nor disagreement, and one is strong disagreement ensure the continued publishes the Guardian? existence of a quality newspaper, free from party affiliation, remaining faithful to liberal tradition? % % % % Guardian Observer Guardian yes no yes no Unlimited 72 28 89 11 Coverage has been comprehensive 4.4 4.1 4.1

Coverage has been authoritative Do you believe that the Do you believe that the 4.2 3.8 3.9 trust’s mission is reflected trust’s mission is reflected in the content of the in the content of the Guardian? Observer? A broad range of perspectives has been presented from a range of % % % % writers 4.2 3.8 3.8 yes no yes no I generally agree with the leader Source: reader survey, June columns on the Iraq war 96 4 94 6 2004 3.8 3.4 3.7

explicitly stating language and character set on Montreal, where a special North American have mobility issues. Not only does it offer a all pages, stopping new windows from opening, edition goes to press 24 hours after the main vast array of information but also allows people ensuring that the main parts of the site work edition to capture the heightened interest of US to buy products more easily. If a website does without scripting, and labelling existing inline readers, many of whom have become familiar not meet a base level of accessibility then it will frames. Further quick fixes, such as “skip links” with the Guardian’s values through Guardian be impossible for the majority of disabled will be added throughout the coming months, Unlimited. visitors to use it. Many others with some sort of while we work on a larger redesign (2003 International editions of the daily Guardian limiting condition will also have great difficulty. target 1). are printed in Spain, France and Germany. The In the UK there are estimated to be 1.6 million Over the coming year, GU will be making sig- Guardian is distributed in 41 countries, registered blind people and a further nificant changes to the design and navigation of covering all continents, with an average daily 3.4 million people who are IT disabled. its websites. The process will take into account circulation of 38,500 copies. The Observer is A study of all online newspaper websites in the needs of all our readers. User testing with a printed in Spain, France and Germany and is 2004 by the charity AbilityNet concluded that diverse audience will playing an integral part in sold in 54 countries, with sales of 36,000 copies Guardian Unlimited was the most accessible, the process to ensure usability and accessibility. for each issue. although it reported that it still fell below their The site will have lighter, standards-compliant After the successful piloting of digital criteria. pages built to the W3C web content accessibil- editions of the Guardian and Observer, digital All the newspaper companies reviewed by ity guidelines (WCAG 1.0 AA), and a simpler printing in Sydney is to be expanded to Athens AbilityNet were contacted a month before the and more powerful site search. We will also during the Olympics, and there are plans under publication of the report to make a public make our third-party suppliers aware of our way to print a version in New York. commitment to accessibility. Only GU accessibility policies, and place minimum stan- GNL also operates a syndication service and responded, with this statement: “Guardian dards in all future requirement specifications. has commercial contracts with 59 newspapers Unlimited is committed to providing equal The site will have a full accessibility statement, and magazines around the world, which use access for everyone to its network of websites. indicating accessibility features and areas articles that have appeared in the Guardian and However, like many popular websites, we do where we fall short of the standards (2004 Observer. We also have a spot market service fall short of recent world wide web consortium Target 2). which sells individual pieces of writing to [W3C] markup and accessibility standards. To In April 2004 the Guardian jobs website was scores of other publications (see syndication, this end we are currently working on a redesign relaunched with a design with a simpler and page 50, for more details). that will bring the sites up to date, and increase more accessible interface, to minimum their accessibility.” required WCAG 1.0 accessibility checkpoints Readers with disabilities The task of complying with W3C began in (this was specifically required in the contract), February 2004 and will continue throughout and many additional checkpoints. GNL is keen that its products are available to all the year, with development time specifically sectors of society, including people with disabil- reserved to progress this goal. Advertising and marketing ities. While the visually impaired can get hold Apart from this ongoing clean-up, redevel- of the Guardian and Observer through the oped areas of the site, such as the “all today’s GNL is heavily dependent on advertising Talking Newspaper Association, by tape or by stories”, our search results pages, and online revenue as the price readers pay for their papers email, we can make the most impact by blog which relaunched in May, have been built covers only a relatively small percentage of our ensuring our websites are accessible. with accessibility in mind, although this is overall costs. On Guardian Unlimited most of The reason that web accessibility is so impor- limited so far by the current GU page design. A the content is free, so we are even more reliant tant is that the internet has become a vital tool number of quick fixes to augment accessibility on advertising and sponsorship. in many people’s lives, especially those who have been implemented across the site, such as We clearly have a duty to our readers to carry 26 Living our values responsible advertising, but this can be a we should ban any adverts that are offensive, complex issue given that our readers have such but if we’re talking about lyrical content, I think a broad range of views. We obviously screen out we would be getting into quite dodgy territory.” advertising that contravenes the law and refuse Adverts for gambling also concern a number to take products that we feel are offensive, or of our readers and the advertising department which we believe are exploitative, such as will be more closely monitoring such ads in the scratchcards. light of government deregulation. But many of our readers and web users take a Use of sexual imagery is also considered to be libertarian view that we should not censor unacceptable by nearly half of Guardian read- advertisements. In our June 2004 reader ers. One example of where we strayed beyond survey, around a quarter of respondents from good taste was a full-page colour advertisement our two papers and the website did not object in the Weekend magazine that used a naked to adverts using sexual imagery, or promoting woman bound up by tape to advertise a prop- gambling, religion or music with offensive erty development. Not only was the editor lyrics. deeply unhappy with the advert but several However, far greater numbers feel we should readers complained. The editor apologised to reject adverts in certain categories. The most readers the following week and the ads depart- concern in last year’s survey focused on ads for ment went back to the client and asked it to adult chatlines in the Guardian’s Saturday change the copy, which it did. Guide magazine and the Observer’s OTV tele- The Guardian advertising manager, Chris vision guide. As a result, the advertisement Pelekanou, said unsuitable adverts tended to director, Stuart Taylor, reviewed the adverts, slip through the net when the “subject matter is which brought in revenue of £350,000 a year, not controversial but the picture or words are, The controversial property ad that ran in December 2003 and was withdrawn after and came to the conclusion that they were at in the case of the property ad. We take great complaints from readers odds with our core values. Within weeks we care that ads do not incite or condone violence, stopped running them. Taylor said: “The racism or sexism. We tend to check ads we are decision to stop carrying the chatline ads end- concerned about with the legal and editorial ing up being far easier than anticipated. The departments. On the whole, controversial ads copy submitted was getting ever more explicit tend to be picked up as they are often one-offs and collectively the pages were standing out as and tend to be politically motivated.” No log is ever more discordant with the editorial envi- kept of adverts that are refused. ronment and large sections of the readership of Advertising on Guardian Unlimited is more In this year’s survey, the category the Guide. A steady stream of reader complex than on the newspapers because it can that caused the most concern complaints made the ad sales team reappraise come in many more forms, from banners and how to make the money in another way. The buttons to more interactive and intrusive pop- was the advertising of music space is now sold to arts, entertainment, and up ads. A recent survey of users found one of with offensive lyrics. Sixty consumer advertisers, and the revenue shortfall the most irritating aspects of the website was per cent of Guardian readers felt from the high-yielding chatline ads has been the use of these pop-up ads, although these are made up in other parts of the Guardian. We now declining in number and account for only we should not carry such don’t get reader complaints anymore.” (2003 4% of the total ads carried. adverts, as did 40% of GU users Target 2) All GU ads are seen by a senior editor and the and 38% of Observer readers In the latest survey we asked our readers head of development before they go live on the whether they felt we had taken the right site. Each ad is assessed to see if it works decision. Three-quarters of Guardian readers correctly across different browsers and to make and 59% of Observer readers did feel we took sure it fits with our brand. The more intrusive the right course of action; 9% of Guardian advertising, known as rich media, is judged on readers and nearly a fifth of Observer readers a case-by-case basis. Some rich media ads are felt it represented an unnecessary form of cleverly designed and fit well with our specialist censorship. content on sites such as media and travel, while In this year’s survey the category that caused others are intrusive and likely to annoy users the most concern was the advertising of music who have clicked on a particular article because with offensive lyrics. Sixty per cent of Guardian they want to read the text. We tend to favour readers felt we should not carry such adverts, as those ads that do not cover the main text area did 40% of GU users and 38% of Observer and that have a clearly identifiable close button. readers. The advertising department has no We do not run rich media ads on serious UK record of reader complaints in this area. and international news stories. Merope Mills, the editor of the Guardian’s We are the only site to monitor and audit Friday Review section, said writers often made advertising and content. In addition, we clear within music reviews if lyrics were monitor user response to advertising via our offensive but trying to enforce a ban on certain user help department. The online ads depart- music advertising was “almost completely ment is making it easier for users to give us unfeasible. It’s impossible to distinguish the feedback via a blog and is producing an levels of irony within a song. Some acts — like advertising policy. Eminem — are ‘in character’ in a number of Apart from advertising, our marketing their songs that sound the most offensive. In department engages in a number of sponsor- some cases I fear we’d be getting into Daily Mail ship activities and reader offers to support our levels of hysteria, banning things that actually brands and build sales. While the department is mock the very thing we’re trying to ban. highly sensitive to our brand values, there are “And where do you draw the line? Is James rare occasions when it can get caught up in Brown’s It’s a Man’s World sexist? Should we controversy. One example during the financial not carry adverts for James Brown? Of course year was a two-for-one flights offer in the Living our values 27 DAVID SILLITOE DAVID 28 Living our values Employees Voice of the people

The people department, which manages all our every two years. A consultant met with staff emphasis on innovation and improvement. HR activities, has spent the last financial year focus groups, directors and union representa- People, on the whole, enjoy considerable free- engaged in a fundamental reorganisation to tives from across GNL before composing the dom and control over what they do, how they ensure it meets the increasingly complex needs questionnaire, and subsequently interviewed do it and, to a lesser but still significant extent, of the company. At the same time it has been 100 members of staff. over their hours and place of work. People feel seeking to improve on areas of weakness high- The summary report from Scala Associates their employment is secure and that their lighted by the company’s first employee survey, said: “In essence, there is immense pride in the working environment is free from fear, which was conducted in 2003. organisation and in its products. Overwhelm- intimidation and harassment. Most people find The reorganisation started with setting a ingly, employees identify with the brand and the atmosphere in their department friendly vision for the HR team and then developing a the values of the organisation and rate GNL as and relaxed. strategy to deliver it. The vision is to “enable a very good employer. The vast majority of “There is remarkable consistency of opinion GNL to focus our investment in people to drive employees gain considerable satisfaction from throughout the organisation. Even though each business results, while providing employees the work they do and believe that there is department has its own distinctive style, with an experience which reflects Scott Trust employees’ perceptions of strengths and areas values, and in doing so being mindful of the Employees were asked whether they for improvement are similar from department need to protect the positive aspects of our thought pay and conditions are fair across to department.” unique legacy and culture”. GNL (March 2003) The reason this is remarkable is that many To deliver this vision, the department has companies find there is a wide difference in % been repositioned to enable it to work more % % culture between different departments, and Agreed/ Didn’t Disagreed/ closely in partnership with the business, with strongly feel strongly GNL’s survey indicates that our culture is each consultant working with specific depart- agreed strongly disagreed embedded throughout the company. ments on the whole range of HR issues The results were by no means all positive. including recruitment, development and Staff highlighted a number of problem areas, employee relations. Specialist roles have also and the board of directors subsequently been established within the department, approved 17 targets for improvement which including separate heads of HR, learning and were communicated back to all employees. development, and rewards. This will ensure 15 3748 Below we share what has been achieved since there is clarity about who is accountable within the survey in relation to these targets, a full Employees were asked whether they thought pay the department for these areas. and conditions are fair across their department summary of which can be found on page 54. In The department repositioning meant we the same section you can also see a list of new were not able to make rapid progress in every targets for the coming year, where we have one of the areas highlighted for improvement % % % identified a need for further work to be done. Agreed/ Didn’t Disagreed/ in last year’s social audit, although in key areas strongly feel strongly Of all the employee survey findings, two such as the development of a rewards strategy agreed strongly disagreed areas were highlighted where most attention and diversity, we exceeded our hopes. was required: how we pay and reward staff and performance appraisals. The employee survey Pay and reward We carried out our first independent employee survey in March 2003 and this will be repeated 2237 41 The 2003 survey found that nearly half of Living our values 29 employees felt policies on pay and conditions Case study: innovation were unfair and inconsistent across GNL, with 41% feeling that they were unfair and inconsis- tent within their individual department. To address this, we set out targets to develop a ‘We developed the total rewards strategy (2003 target 3) and clear pay policy (2003 target 4). The board has given these issues significant focus over the past six concept of a network months, alongside which we have been working with an independent rewards specialist to research and understand in more detail where teams of employees’ specific concerns regarding pay and rewards. As part of this research, several focus groups people would come were held with staff from all levels, as well as discussions with directors and union represen- tatives. More than half of the 78 focus group together to debate participants felt that the reward policies and practices provided by GNL were not in line with the ethos of the company. To respond to these concerns, a steering and develop an idea group representing both commercial and editorial departments has been meeting regularly since January 2004. It has defined a in an innovation lab’ set of principles, signed off by the GNL board: We will aim for consistency and fairness on •the processes we use to manage reward, as appropriate to the business; We will ensure that our reward processes •and policies are transparent and accessible to Innovation has been a core value and compet- which has a board sponsor and chair, all employees; itive point of difference for GNL for many currently Stella Beaumont, the strategy and We will be mindful of the market in making years. We have a long line of publishing firsts business development director. The sponsor •decisions about pay and benefits; to our name, from the launch of the bespoke will change on an annual basis to keep the We will be clear about how we recognise and education, media, and society sections in the team fresh and invigorated. •reward performance, whether at company, 1970s to the launch of the Guide, Guardian The concept was launched in November team or individual level; Unlimited, and the Observer Monthly 2003. Orange innovation boxes were installed We will retain a core set of benefits for all magazines in more recent times. on each floor along with an email address. To •employees. Employees will be given flexibility Innovation is more than an optional extra date, the innovation network has received 180 within their total reward package to enable for a newspaper publisher. There is clear ideas from 134 people across all GNL depart- them to meet their differing personal needs and commercial evidence that true innovation — ments. Everyone who submits an idea receives circumstances. when a publisher has an original idea and is a response. The call for ideas also gave us a Translating these principles into a practical the first to put it into practice — will be great insight into the issues that really pay review strategy is largely complete and will rewarded with an uplift in sales. Me-too concern our employees and this information be communicated to staff in the autumn. It will efforts tend to do nothing for the second or will also be used to tailor our communications be made clear what elements go into deciding third company into the market and generally process. For example, a number of broad base pay levels and will also communicate to add in only one area — the cost base of the themes emerged such as environment and those staff eligible to bonus schemes what company. community issues, the health and wellbeing of business objectives need to be met to trigger It would be easy, but we believe wrong, to our staff, career development and mentoring, them. There will be guidance on the criteria assume that, in a creative industry, innovation and the need to appeal more to young readers. that managers will follow to determine the level will happen spontaneously. We had a particu- The number of ideas around these broad of salary increase (2004 target 4). lar concern that many of our employees had themes resulted in the first wave of labs. The Once this first phase of the project is com- bright ideas for new things or for improving first three were launched in March 2003 and pleted, our intention is to explore the feasibility current activities. Our problem was not in based on the most popular themes from the of moving towards a more flexible approach to generating ideas but in the complete lack of a ideas submitted: how to attract young readers; how we offer staff benefits at GNL. This will system or process for linking the idea genera- health and wellbeing; and environment and enable us to recognise the diversity of our staff tor with the person who could make the idea community. Health and wellbeing covered a and their changing needs and personal circum- happen, or for developing a rough idea into wide range of subjects, including emotional, stances as their career progress. Because of the something truly workable. physical and mental health; personal and need to focus our energies on the change to a So we developed the concept of an innova- corporate responsibility; our environment; mid-size European format, no date can yet be tion network, where teams of people would office space; sickness levels; motivation levels; set for this phase (2004 target 5). come together to debate and develop an idea and smoking. Environmental and social More information on pay and benefits at in an innovation lab. The lab would offer the explored a wide range of ideas ranging from guardian.co.uk/socialaudit/employees secondary benefit of teaming up people who recycling to organic food. Two separate labs would not normally work together. We were took place to address the question of young Learning and development keen to avoid meetings for “the usual sus- readers, one looking at school-age children pects” and to have a fresh view and perspec- and the second at those aged 18-plus. In this area progress has been slower than tive on often fairly intractable questions. The next round of labs, starting with film anticipated. While the employee survey The innovation process as a whole, the and new technologies, will begin in July 2004. suggested that most staff find their work inter- initial sifting of ideas and the setting up of the To ensure that the innovation network runs esting and challenging and that they welcome labs is organised through a steering group efficiently we are also planning to second a existing training and development initiatives, 30 Living our values 86 agreed strongly Agreed/ % ‘I amproud to work at GNL’ agreed strongly Agreed/ % feedback onmy work performance’ ‘My immediate managergives meregular agreed strongly Agreed/ % ‘I findmy work interesting andchallenging’ responses to thefollowing statements: Employees were asked inMarch 2003 for their 38 70 strongly feel Didn’t % strongly feel Didn’t % 12 strongly feel Didn’t % 25 18 37 disagreed strongly Disagreed/ % disagreed strongly Disagreed/ % 12 disagreed strongly Disagreed/ % 2

GETTY IMAGES enhance understandingofemployees’ aremeaningfuland that appraisal discussions andtoensure business needadditionalsupport ofthe tofindingoutwhichparts with aview ofappraisalsacrossGNL, conclude thereview themostoutofthem. how toget go throughtheprocesshasreceivedtrainingin deliver appraisals,andthefirstgroupofstaffto management teamhasbeentrained inhowto staff.senior The madeupofObserver ing party been designedfromscratch,involving awork- streamlined. theprocesstomakeitmore to review intentionis The staff intheirdepartments. while alsoformallyappraisingthe400-plus desks for managerstoruntheirbusynews becauseitwasdifficult momentum, partly an appraisalschemein2002,thislost editorial. AlthoughGuardianeditorialbegan data. provide accurate couldnot be higherassomedepartments past 12months,althoughthisfigureislikely to editorial staffhadreceivedanappraisalinthe year showedthat morethanathirdofnon- last are appliedisvariable.Anauditconducted withwhichthey andfrequency the consistency ments alreadyrunappraisal programmes,but pany regular, consistentappraisals acrossthecom- One oflastyear’s wastointroduce maintargets Performance appraisals withintheorganisation. career development for Staff alsoidentifiedalackofopportunity both formalandinformal—wasinadequate. people feltthat feedbackfrommanagers— rewards pay and principles on GNL’s The people department willthisyear peopledepartment The On theObserver, appraisalprocess has anew weakestareas forappraisalarewithin The (2003 target 5) (2003 target . The majority ofdepart- . The transparent andaccessibletoall processes andpoliciesare We willensurethatourreward appropriate tothebusiness use tomanagereward, as fairness ontheprocesses we We willaimfor consistency and and moveaway fromtheperceptionthatcareer to take moreownershipofcareerdevelopment aimistoenableemployees careers advice.The and activities information ondepartments’ willalsoinclude section do them.The involve neededto andtheskillsexperience aboutwhat rolesatintranet GNLactually information available onthecompany’s willinitiallybebymakingmore area. This inthis ourefforts wewillrefocus complete, address thisissue. didnothavedepartment theresourcesto has happenedduringtheyearbecause their careerswithinGNL ber ofmeasurestoencourage stafftodevelop We committed lastyeartointroducinganum- Career development business. ofthe inthatpart learning anddevelopment toimprove to identifyotheropportunities handle theissue.In themeantime, wewillseek as soonthebusinesshascapacity to We willaddressappraisalsinthisdepartment itsenergiesontheformatchange. need tofocus isGuardianeditorial,whichwill uncertainty oneareaof appraisal processinplace.The Guardian editorial,tohave anadequate from apart people employedinalldepartments, appraisals aredeveloped. intheway departmental GNL arereflected differenceswithin ensuring that thecultural closely toestablishaconsistentapproach,while seniormanagers,willcollaborate supporting on unit,whichfocuses development executive andthe peopledepartment aspirations. The strengths, andcareer areasfordevelopment, circumstances differing personalneedsand to enablethemmeettheir within theirtotalreward package Employees willbegiven flexibility benefits for allemployees. We willretainacoreset of company, teamorindividuallevel whetherat performance, recognise andreward We willbeclearabouthowwe and benefits in makingdecisionsaboutpay We willbemindfulofthe market employees With the department reorganisationnow With thedepartment 18monthsouraimisfor Within thenext (2004 target 6) (2004 target Living ourvalues 31 . (2003 target 6) (2003 target . Little Case study: diversity ‘We were running a risk of failing to attract new readers from across the spectrum of race, sexual orientation and religion as well as ignoring an enormous pool of talent when hiring new staff’

Diversity in GNL at January 2004 Three years ago a small group within Guardian recognising that every member of staff has editorial started agitating for change in the area % % different needs. of equality and diversity. Senior management female male There needs to be more discussion at board were at the same time also recognising this was level to see what more we can do to link an issue that needed to be addressed more diversity more closely with core business vigorously. Not only were GNL and the rest of planning. We recognise our diversity policy the newspaper industry being laggards in this should not be seen on its own but in tandem area but clearly our inaction went directly with other initiatives, such as flexible working against our core values. 4654 hours and home working. To our readers, we were in danger of failing There is a tendency in any company for staff to adequately reflect through our editorial % % to replicate the existing culture and we want to heterosexual bisexual/ voices the enormous change in the demograph- gay/ ensure that we do not just employ ethnic ics of this country. From a commercial point of lesbian minority or disabled staff who are like us, but view, this inevitably meant we were running a that we seek people with different skills, talents risk of failing to attract new readers from across and life experiences. the spectrum of race, sexual orientation and Our equality and diversity policy states: “As religion as well as ignoring an enormous pool of an employer GNL aspires to promote a diverse, talent when hiring new staff. 93 7 inclusive and representative working environ- Much has changed, especially in the area of ment in which everyone is treated with dignity racial diversity, and this has been recognised by % % % and respect. GNL accepts that it will be judged achieving bronze medal status in the Race for no religion Christian other on actions and results rather than well- Opportunity benchmarking survey in 2004, meaning intentions.” run by Business in the Community. We were the We began the equality and diversity process third most improved company in the media, by focusing on identifying our vision for the communications and IT sector, and scored future, and looking at how we could main- above the average for all participating 57 36 7 stream the diversity agenda through monitor- companies. GNL’s overall score, based on a % % ing, providing effective education and training, range of performance criteria increased from white mixed and and ensuring legal compliance. 44 out of 100 last year to 64 in 2004 (Full RFO ethnic minority A big development was the first equal oppor- results at guardian.co.uk/socialaudit.) tunities staff survey in December 2002, which While the process of change is under way, we addressed ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, recognise we are still at the beginning of a long age, and sexual orientation. It achieved a 66% journey. We have until now concentrated on response rate and all new staff are now asked to areas such as encouraging more staff from 92 8 fill in the survey. This September we will be ethnic minorities or people with disabilities. Gender figures are for all staff, others are from doing further monitoring when we hope to But the more we have learnt, the more we have respondents to the staff questionnaire; 1.2% of staff said boost take-up to 75%, following which a series they had a disability, although the people department come to understand that the issue of equality expects the actual figure to be higher of benchmarking targets will be submitted to and diversity is far more complex. The process the board (2004 targets 9 & 10). is itself ambivalent because equality is all about We are now in the second strategic phase of a treating staff equally and diversity is about five-phase plan. This involves analysis of the 32 Living our values Who is reading what?

% of minority ethnic readers of % of minority ethnic readers of Sunday daily broadsheets broadsheets 16 10 11 8 Financial Times Guardian Ind on Sunday Observer 8 2 8 3 Times Telegraph Sunday Times Sunday Telegraph

Source: National readership survey, ethnic readership, April 2003-March 2004

findings from the survey, the development and example, NRS figures show that 10% of increase this to half (2004 target 11). implementation of departmental action plans, Guardian readers are from an ethnic minority There is a dedicated diversity section on the and engaging staff at every level in diversity background, ranking second highest among all company intranet which includes the equality awareness (2003 target 8). quality daily broadsheets. The corresponding and diversity policy and strategy, equal oppor- In September 2003 we seconded an equality figure for the Observer is 8%. tunity monitoring results and information on and diversity project manager, Emma To promote diversity on a wider scale, we relevant legislation. There have also been two Kiwanuka, who is responsible for facilitating sponsored our first diversity conference in open forums held for staff by the steering group initiatives and embedding them in the com- October, which was attended by 460 delegates. to communicate the progress that has been pany. She works closely with the diversity The Guardian also carried an in-paper diversity made. steering group, which is chaired by the supplement on the day. For the conference, The recruitment within the law training we corporate affairs director, Shaun Williams, who GNL commissioned Mori to do some research ran in 2002 has succeeded in better equipping champions the issue at board level. on opinions of diversity. The results prompted staff involved in the recruitment process to This year there is also a specific equality and us to revise our in-paper recruitment adverts to understand not only legislation but fair inter- diversity budget of £35,000 to be used for read: “We welcome application from any viewing techniques. Feedback from the training, consultancy, conferences, seminars individual regardless of ethnic origin, gender, employee survey, which we carried out in July and events. Separately, we have allocated funds disability, religious belief, sexual orientation or 2003, showed that employees wanted a more to cover the cost of advertising a proportion of age. All applications will be considered on transparent selection process. As a result, this our vacancies in a range of media platforms in merit.” year we have extended the recruiting within the addition to our own. Within our own organisation we have been law course to departments outside of editorial. increasing the level of diversity awareness While there is much we are doing right, there Raising awareness among staff. The board has committed to are occasions when, editorially, we cause ensuring that all staff attend diversity aware- offence. One example was the Observer music Diversifying our recruitment pool has been a ness workshops. More than a quarter have monthly’s (OMM) cover picture in February focus in the past year. In September 2003 we attended workshops since they began in 2004, which used a number of naked black launched our online recruitment tool, people- October 2003. By the end of 2005, we aim to women to illustrate an article on the band bank, which includes a facility to monitor the Outkast. The cover picture was advertised all demographic make-up of our applicants and ‘As an employer GNL aspires the previous week in the Guardian. the effectiveness of our advertising media. A black female journalist on the Guardian In May 2004 the company launched its first to promote a diverse, inclusive considered the picture to be offensive and big initiative to highlight that GNL is an and representative working wrote: “I wasn’t just offended and angered by employer with many opportunities outside the environment in which everyone the cover, I was actually really upset by it. Did realm of editorial, and to encourage applica- anyone stop for one minute and think what tions from people from a diversity of back- is treated with dignity and message that sort of cover sends out? What are grounds to apply. The advert runs in the respect. GNL accepts that it we saying about black women? … What is the Guardian and on the Guardian Unlimited will be judged on actions and point in priding ourselves on our coverage of website. results rather than well-meaning race and racism, if we let things like this into The National Readership Survey (NRS) the paper? … GNL is making all sorts of noises shows that our readership is diverse enough to intentions’ about equal opportunities and yet we let ensure contact with the whole spectrum of Guardian Newspapers Ltd something like this run?” groups within society. In terms of race, for Equality and diversity policy The OMM editor, Caspar Llewellyn Smith, Living our values 33 received a number of letters from readers on Readers were asked if they Readers were asked if they this subject and wrote back saying: “It clearly is thought our content adequately thought our content adequately reflects Britain’s multicultural reflects Britain’s multicultural a provocative image — sexually and possibly society? (June 2004) society? (June 2003) racially charged. My reading of the picture was yes % no % that it speaks the visual language of hip-hop no % yes % and of Outkast, the group in question, but Guardian Guardian pushes the imagery to such an extent that it becomes slightly absurd, almost comic. We did 82 18 71 29 canvas opinion among a dozen female mem- Observer Observer bers of staff, and I thought closely about the context in which my children would think 76 24 68 32 about the picture. Guardian Guardian “Sometimes we get it wrong. My judgment Unlimited Unlimited was that this was bang on the border of what is 82 18 78 22 acceptable in the name of pastiche and visual drama. I acknowledge, however, that it is quite Readers were asked if the Readers were asked if the possible to see the image as drifting over to the composition of our writers composition of our writers side of unacceptable. For any offence my choice adequately reflects Britain’s adequately reflects Britain’s has caused you I apologise.” multicultural society? (June 2004) multicultural society? (June 2003) yes % no % yes % no % Ethnicity Guardian Guardian Our equal opportunities data indicates that 92% of staff are white, which is directly repre- 75 25 70 30 sentative of the UK labour force. It also com- Observer Observer pares with an average of 96% across the media sector, a figure taken from research conducted 70 30 64 36 by the Publishing National Training organisa- Guardian Guardian tion in 2003. But their study concluded that, Unlimited Unlimited “given the predominance of the industry in 78 22 73 27 London and the south-east, and in other urban areas, this suggests that the industry has not ing courses”. The pledge was part of Disability on them and let employees and the employ- succeeded in reflecting the balance of the Now’s investigation at the beginning of 2004 ment service know about progress and future populations it serves”. into diversity in the newsrooms of national plans. (2004 target 12). In our recent survey of more than 2, 500 newspapers. Only 1.2% of GNL staff say they have a readers and web users, we asked if our editorial Only GNL was willing to sign up to the disability. The people department, however, coverage adequately reflects Britain’s multi- paper’s pledge and its response contrasts, for estimates the figure to be significantly higher cultural society: 82% of Guardian readers and example, with the views of the Mail on Sunday, as there is still prejudice surrounding disability Guardian Unlimited users believe it does, with whose managing editor, John Wellington, told across the UK, with concerns particularly a slightly lower percentage of Observer readers. Disability Now that it did not need to advertise around issues such as job security. Through When asked if they felt that Britain’s multi- job vacancies because “there are always plenty our work with the Employers Forum on cultural society is adequately represented in the of people known to us that we can recruit when Disability, we are striving to allay such fears of composition of our writers, three-quarters of a vacancy occurs”. discrimination. our readers and web users believe it does. Disability Now also reported that only the Wheelchair users have access to the majority Although all of these percentages are encour- Guardian and Observer saw a need to keep of our buildings. There is unlimited access to aging and represent a significant improvement their staff up to date on how to report on our archive and visitor centre, as well as our on last year’s responses to the same questions, disability through their style guides, “despite seven-floor headquarters building, although we recognise there is still more we can do. the persistent use of outdated terminology and the upper ground floor can only be reached by In addition to the more general diversity stereotypes in the press”. stairs from the reception area. Reasonable recruitment initiatives outlined above we have In the coming year GNL will be applying to adjustments would be made to address this specifically targeted ethnic minority journalists use the two ticks “positive about disabled should a wheelchair user be employed to work through offering positive action work people” symbol in our recruitment advertise- on this floor. experience placements. For the third year ments to demonstrate our commitment to the Two of our five satellite buildings are running we offered two-week summer place- following: currently inaccessible due to steep steps at the ments to 12 students or graduates to learn Interview all applicants with a disability who entrance, although we will be vacating the about different aspects of the profession. •meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy larger of these later this year. Alongside this, the Observer internship and consider them on their abilities; In November 2004, around a third of our offers an opportunity for aspiring journalists Ensure there is a mechanism in place to dis- staff will be moving to a brand new site in from all backgrounds to gain work experience •cuss, at any time, but at least once a year, with Herbal Hill which will be fully accessible, with with the aim of producing work that will be disabled employees what both parties can do to additional consideration taken for those with published in the paper. make sure disabled employees can develop and visual and hearing disabilities beyond statutory use their abilities; requirements. Disability Make every effort when employees become Features will include: •disabled to make sure they stay in A paging system connected to the fire alarm GNL signed up this year to a pledge by national employment; •will be issued to anyone who is hearing campaigning newspaper, Disability Now. The Take action to ensure that all employees impaired. This will vibrate with a message commitment is to “work, in your employment •develop the appropriate level of disability telling them the alarm has gone off and where policies, towards a better reflection of the fact awareness needed to make these commitments to go; that 12.7% of economically active people (those work; •Disabled toilets fitted with an alarm working or available for work) are disabled, and •Each year, review the five commitments and system; cover the reporting of disability issues in train- what has been achieved , plan ways to improve •Large safety signage on all floors and tactile 34 Living our values If there is a need for treatment, GNL will pay for individuals’ physiotherapy and eye testing. All new staff are required to have an eye test, with around 30 members having the test each month

progression is something that is entirely the and Guardian deputy editor, Georgina Henry, across the company, who carry out assessments company’s responsibility (2004 target 7). has been appointed board champion, and a and recommend appropriate changes to equip- steering group has been set up. ment and posture. In the last financial year, 216 Feedback from managers One area where we are focusing attention is assessments were carried out. home working. Now that broadband internet If there is a need for treatment, GNL will pay Another target last year was to encourage access has made this a more viable option, a for individuals’ physiotherapy and eye testing. managers to give more regular feedback to their policy and procedure has been drafted to All new staff are required to have an eye test, staff (2003 target 7). This is being facilitated ensure applications are dealt with more fairly with around 30 members having the test each through management coaching, which includes (2004 target 14). month. New employees undergo a full health a specific section on giving feedback. The It provides guidelines for applicants and and safety induction, which includes legal people department is looking to address this managers regarding suitability of job role, requirements, accident reporting, first aid, fire more emphatically in the coming year by health, safety and IT issues, and will be in safety and evacuation procedures. All staff are offering different modules to make up a operation from July 2004. A specific budget also eligible to join the company’s free private tailored management training package. has also been allocated to support the initiative healthcare scheme. Specific modules will address managing poor for the next financial year. One of the results of this more proactive performance, appraisal, getting the most from Currently, 53 employees are set up to work approach is that those needing help are spotted staff, objective setting and giving feedback from home — 32 senior managers, 13 support sooner, therefore lessening the severity of their (2004 target 8). staff, and eight through informal flexible work- condition. This can be seen in the decreasing Work-life balance ing requests. These figures do not include numbers of people seeking physiotherapy and employees who work from home on an ad hoc the length of treatment needed. In the past Three years ago, GNL introduced a work-life basis via remote access. financial year, 107 people had on average 12 balance policy as recognition that this was an Health and wellbeing sessions of physiotherapy each, costing the issue critical to the business and not simply a company a total of £54,000. This represents a case of the “right thing to do”. Under the policy In the past year, there has been a significant significant drop from 2001-02 when 128 people any employee is eligible to submit an shift in the way health and safety has been received an average of 21 sessions of treatment application to be considered for a flexible viewed at GNL. A more preventative approach costing £102,000. work-life arrangement. is being taken with a focus on wellbeing rather Across the business, however, particularly The application process was revised in April than just on health and safety risks and within editorial and Guardian Unlimited, the 2003 to reflect the timeframes contained in sickness. deadline-driven culture often means people flexible working legislation. Clear guidelines To encourage staff to take more interest and feel that they cannot take breaks, which can be are now in place on how the policy should be be more proactive, a new section has been a difficult mindset to break. Aside from the implemented and have been communicated to created on our intranet. It covers ergonomic varied staff activities programme, which has staff and managers though our intranet (2003 tips on preventing repetitive strain injury (RSI) gone some way to encouraging breaks at target 9). and upper limb disorder (ULD) and relevant lunchtimes (see page 36), a positive way to The people department is auditing the exercises. The section also includes advice on address this in the future will be through existing flexible working arrangements across eye care, links to social and sporting activities workplace design (2004 target 15). the company and is collating data on the num- and details of the formalised workstation Not all wellbeing issues are so tangible and ber of staff requesting changes to their working assessment process (2003 target 10). We we recognise that sometimes personal issues patterns (2004 target 13). To ensure it is taken currently have our full quota of 15 trained DSE can interfere with employees’ working lives. We forward as a strategic issue the GNL director (display screen equipment) assessors, located have therefore decided to offer an employee Living our values 35 ing conditions ofguidelinesforacceptablework- introduction lastyear,which werenotmet concerningthe 19) 2004 target and wellbeingissues ments whichwilltake intoconsideration health require- niture withrecommendationsfornew fur- willincludeanauditofexisting years. This four environment more pleasantoverthenext of 119Farringdon Road,tomake theworking refurbishment allow ustoembarkonapartial will around thecornerfromourmainsite.This satellite building staff willbemovingintoanew From 2004around375 ofthe1,400 October building. the overcrowdinginheadquarters 6Livingourvalues 36 good activities, their owndepartments’ were identifiedincludeemployeesawareness of fitted intothisstereotype. Strengths which areas ofstrength, GNLuntilrecentlylargely using thisskillinsidetheirownorganisations. badat ofbeingparticularly accused are often is communicating information andideas,they While thebreadandbutter ofmediacompanies Communication 20) (2004 target to take responsibility fortheirownworkarea marshalswillbenominated department level, that theseguidelines are embeddedatalocal 18) 12,2004target (2003 target thismovetotake placein2008 well andexpect mile radius ofourpresentlocationinClerken- considering anumberofsiteswithinthree- building.We new completely arecurrently sixsitestoone staff fromtheexisting strategic decisiontomoveallGNL’s London dilemmabymakinga horns ofthisparticular mare tomovestaffoutandthenbackinagain. while staffremaininthebuildingandanight- todosignificantworks difficult been extremely presented enormousproblemsbecauseithas thebuildinghas 1960s. Seekingtorefurbish was originallybuiltasawarehouseinthe environment ofthemainofficebuilding,which working of yearshasbeentheunsatisfactory One ofthemainbugbearsat GNLforanumber Working environment 17)(2004 target managerisbeingsought andanew department hasbeenmovedtothepeople and safety company. Sincethen,responsibility forhealth the left themanager ofthedepartment after initiativesweredelayedfor allhealthandsafety response tostafffeedback. wasin toallareas.This now beenextended from July 2004 willbeavailable service forstafftouse This in-depth counsellingaboutpersonalmatters. tomore from legalandfinancialsupport andadviceonissuesranging dential support independent company whichprovidesconfi- withan assistance programme inpartnership To tieinwiththiswewilladdressthetargets In ourpriority istoaddress theshort-term, Although the employee survey showed some Although theemployeesurvey hasfinally graspedthe boardofdirectors The Our planstodesignandimplementanaudit smokingbanatGNL’sA partial officeshas (2003 target 14,15)(2003 target . (2004 target 16) (2004 target . . (2003 target 13, (2003 target . . . To ensure ments to do so on their behalf. This process ments todosoontheirbehalf. This nominateheadsofdepart- themselves, they outthedebriefing donotcarry Where directors when overseeingthedebriefingoftheirstaff. forthemtouse director notes aresenttoevery a processinnowplacewhereclearbriefing doesnotalwaysbriefings cascadetoallstaff— —that information fromthese employee survey Tobriefings. addressconcernsfromthe GNL from acrossthecompany atquarterly cate strategic toseniormanagers developments editors,nowcommuni- Guardian andObserver the business from animprovedknowledgeofotherareas that wouldbenefit ing specificdepartments take place,aswellidentifyingandsupport- we plantomonitorpresentations thatcurrently activities asaway ofcommunicatingtheir meetings their ally invite managers fromacrossthebusinessto alsooccasion- established. Somedepartments have wheremeetings one exception nowbeen meetings departmental nowhavefirmed that alldepartments regular and thecompany asawhole. information bothabouttheirowndepartments ensure thatallstaffhave accesstoimportant lastyearto wereset targets in this,andseveral decisions. reach certain forhowwe well astobegivenexplanations atGNL,as andperformance business strategy accessible, wantedmoreinformationabout wanted seniormanagerstobemorevisibleand wherelinksexist. departments and freeexchange ofinformationbetween colleaguesandmanagers relationships between working requests eight through informal flexible staff,managers, 13support and from home–32senior employees aresetuptowork viable option.Currently, 53 made homeworking amore Broadband internet accesshas GNL’s aswellthe chiefexecutive, An internalcommunicationsauditcon- hasbeenmadetoimprove A strenuouseffort alsoshowedmany staff But thesurvey (2003 target 17)(2003 target (2004 target 21) (2004 target (2003 target 16) (2003 target . This financialyear . This . , with

DAVID LEVENE (2004 target 23) (2004 target to theinternalcommunicationsteam haveoffered, staffactivities nowbeenmoved Due tothegrowthinrange ofactivities department. every teamsformvirtually drew that such asthefive-a-sidefootballevent inseveral. participating past year, ofthese withalargeproportion offeredbyGNLinthe one ofthesocialactivities wellbeing andenrichmentofemployees.” day workinglife,thereisaconcernforthe muchonemightdoubtitinone’sever day-to- to thecompany, bydemonstrating that, how- Guardian. It hasalsostrengthened my loyalty —ofthe — bothindividualandcollective nitely givenmeabetter senseofthestrengths both personallyandprofessionally. It hasdefi- have whichhasbeengood met, otherwise never withpeopleIwould has broughtmeincontact (2004 target 22) (2004 target show that awareness ofthesiteisincreasing tics, butinitialfiguresareencouragingand Wepetitions. areawaiting auditedwebstatis- initiativesandcom- trailers andpostersfornew programme. andrecycling policy smoking ofthenew such astheintroduction about plansforchange them, whichmay affect theirviews are encouraged toputforward wherestaff function and thereisaninteractive day, appearingevery andcompetitions news features, withnew site isconstantlyevolving to internalvacancies andappointments.The andstaffactivities ranging frombusinessnews staffabout GNL andcoversareas between the business.Itsroleistoshareinformation asacentralcommunication hubfor which acts by thegrowthofourcompany Spike, intranet, will bemonitoredovercomingyear. (2003 target 19) (2003 target football tournamentandIndian headmassage badminton andsquashleague,thefive-a-side Pilatesgroup, seen thelaunchofanew thisyearhas fordetails), community section inschools(seepage 45inthe teering projects Angels choir, languageclasses,yogaandvolun- those alreadyonoffer, includingtheGuardian’s either atourofficesorlocally. In additionto GNL andusuallytake placeatlunchtimes, initiatives. thus reinforcinghealthandsafety away fromtheirdesksatlunchtimes, way ofencouragingpeople also aproactive asenseofcommunity.pany anddevelop Itis fromacrossthecom- bringing stafftogether by departments down boundariesbetween skills. new allowing themtodevelop thatinvolved interestthemand inactivities them aneasyandaffordableway ofgetting enhance employees’workinglivesbyoffering programme. First,wewantto ing staffactivities arethreemainaimsbehindourburgeon- There Staff activities One participant intheweeklychoirsaid:“It One participant Many fromone-offevents others benefited inatleast Almost athirdofallstafftookpart People toSpike throughemail aredirected Internal communicationhasbeenenhanced Activities areorganisedandsubsidisedby Activities hasbeenourdesiretobreak important As . . . Environment Theory into practice

We pride ourselves on our environmental mental perspective: our newsprint buying, that the Guardian and Observer carry on as coverage and put more resources into this area printing, distribution as well as our office they are. than any other national newspaper. This is buildings. A number of changes have already “The fact that, as a company, you are match- because we consider the environment to be one been made as a result of this. Beyond this, we ing your commitment to keeping the issues in of the most important issues facing this and are the first newspaper group to start looking at the public eye with action inside the business future generations. Paul Brown, the Guardian’s measuring our intangible impacts by quantify- does now put you in a leadership position environment correspondent, encapsulates this: ing what influence our environmental coverage which others will be at some time be forced to “We take very seriously the view of scientists actually has: do people read it, rely on it and follow. The wide range of issues you are that the future of the planet is in jeopardy. change their behaviour as a result of it? Would addressing, from paper buying and printing to Human activity is using up natural resources it make any difference if we stopped taking the energy use and water consumption will add to too fast, we are destroying our own life support issue seriously? your credibility as an organisation, as well as system.” Last year we asked Tony Juniper, director of increasing the pride and motivation of your Through our coverage, we encourage read- Friends of the Earth, about our editorial contri- staff. The environmental impacts of most ers, businesses and governments to be more bution and behaviour as a company. While he companies are pretty obvious and, in fact, so conscious about the impact of their actions on said the Guardian was “considered as the voice are the solutions. I’m impressed by the fact that the environment. But it is only in the past year of progressive and sound environmental think- you are taking such firm action.” that we as a company have started to consis- ing” in the UK, Europe and increasingly the US, tently heed our own advice. We have now as a company “it does not have a leadership role Editorial coverage formulated a comprehensive environmental yet, but no media company does”. policy covering procurement, energy, water and After having reviewed what we have done We consciously do not segregate our environ- waste management with a commitment to over the past year, we asked Juniper the same mental coverage but ensure it is embedded continuous improvement. question. He said: “The Guardian’s coverage across our home, foreign and city news pages as The statement of intent, which will go to the this year has been absolutely outstanding on well as being strongly linked to our science and board of directors for approval, states: complex issues ranging from climate change medical coverage. This is because so many “Guardian Newspapers Ltd recognises that its and GM crops to transport. Most other media editorials, including those on world trade, debt day-to-day operations will inevitably have an organisations have either dropped these issues relief and economic development in the devel- impact on the environment in a number of or are dumbing down, which is a disaster for oping world, all have environment as their root. ways, and we are committed to minimising the the democratic process. It’s hugely important Over the past year we have also been placing potentially harmful effects of such activities more emphasis on supporting readers who wherever and whenever possible. Guardian ‘GNL recognises that want to live a more ethical life. A Guardian Newspapers Ltd recognises that environmental environmental considerations journalist, Leo Hickman, wrote a series of considerations are not separate from our core articles for the G2 features section auditing his business activities but form part of our overall are not separate from our core own life as part of an “ethical living” experi- strategy and that everyone within the company business activities but form part ment. A directory for ethical living and a book has a role in fulfilling the commitments in this of our overall strategy and that on Hickman’s experience will be published in policy” (2004 target 26). 2005. Apart from formulating a policy, we have everyone within the company We carried a series of investigative supple- spent the past year creating the foundation has a role in fulfilling the ments on the food and chemical industries blocks for improvements by auditing every commitments in this policy’ which raised important policy issues, uncovered main aspect of our business from an environ- Statement of intent disturbing trends, and gave readers information Living our values 37 How much influence do we have?

A range of people working in the They were then asked which of the … and which of the following UK environment sector were asked to following UK quality daily papers quality Sunday newspapers grade the importance of each of provided the most authoritative provided the most authoritative the following sources of environment coverage (%) environment coverage (%) information about environmental issues (5=very important, 3= neutral, 1= not important)

Newspapers 4.2 Guardian 76 Observer 45

Internet 3.7 Independent 9 Ind on Sunday 19

Radio 3.6 Financial Times 5 Sunday Times 3

Journals/periodicals 3.6 Times 0 Sunday Telegraph 2

Television 3.5 Telegraph 0 None of the above 31

Magazines 3.0 None of the above 10

about how to buy products that are healthier and have less impact on the environment. Our influence “I think it would be a major loss. We live in a While we seek to cover the environment •culture where consumption and economic effectively, we have never before tried to Apart from our general readership, we also growth rule, making it difficult to get any press measure the impact we have. To begin wanted to know what people who work in envi- coverage or public awareness of the major exploring this, we carried out two surveys in ronmental pressure groups and charities, as environmental issues that face us. The May 2004 to gauge what influence our readers, well as in the Environment Agency, the leading Guardian does excellent work, placing the environmental pressure groups, and those public body for protecting and improving the environment on a rightfully equal footing with involved in implementing government policies environment, feel about what we write. economic and social issues.” feel that we have. A number of organisations agreed to take “A lot of people who have the time, energy, The survey of our readers asked not only part, including Friends of the Earth, •money and inclination to change their what they think of the quality of our coverage Greenpeace UK, WWF, National Trust, RSPB, behaviour and/or take action would be less well but also whether what we write has any impact English Nature, Campaign to Protect Rural informed.” on their behaviour relating to environmental England (CPRE), ActionAid and the Environ- “Less awareness, less debate, it would be a issues. When asked to rate our environmental ment Agency. Sixty-seven people answered our •great shame. While there are other avenues to reporting on a scale of one to five, where five questionnaire, half of whom came from get environmental information, both these means we are excellent and one means we are pressure groups, a fifth from the Environment papers are hugely valuable ways to reach the poor, Guardian readers scored us at 4.1, while Agency, with charities and thinktanks taking general population and stimulate public debate Observer readers gave us a rating of 3.9. up the remainder. on crucial issues.” We also asked to what extent our environ- The survey found that newspapers are ahead “Even less written about the issues. Less mental coverage has influenced their behaviour of every other type of media as their source for •informed people on the streets. Politicians on a range of issues from organic and GM food information on environmental issues. More under less pressure to take the issues seriously.” to energy saving and recycling. The scale we than three-quarters of the respondents felt the “It would be awful. I think the Guardian/ used here was one to three, where three equates Guardian provides the most authoritative envi- •Observer is key — and should be key — to to strong influence, two means some influence ronment coverage in the quality newspaper keeping the pressure on the government on and one means no influence at all. Overall, the market, with the Times and Daily Telegraph environment issues because so many of their Guardian and the Observer scored 1.8 while the scoring a zero percentage. The Observer came core supporters read these papers.” figure for Guardian Unlimited was 1.5. Across top of the Sunday paper league table at 45%. all three products, the highest score was for To find out what influence we have in this Offices organic or GM-free food. Even though many of area, we asked in the survey what the impact our readers and users are already likely to have would be if the Guardian and the Observer One of the biggest improvements to take place “green credentials”, we clearly do have some were to reduce the amount of editorial coverage during the past year was in the environmental impact on the decisions they take. We were also devoted to environmental issues. The response management of our offices in London. interested in the impact of Leo Hickman’s ethi- ranged from the facetious (“Fewer trees would Although, in the long term, we have decided to cal living series in the Guardian’s G2 (see have to be cut down”) to the overdramatic move to a new one-site headquarters building money.guardian.co.uk/ ethicalliving). We were (“Disastrous for the world”). in 2008, where environmental issues will be pleased to see that a significant number of the But the overwhelming response was that our integral to the planning process, there is still a 656 Guardian readers who answered our email coverage does make a significant contribution lot of change under way. survey had read some of the articles and found to the environmental debate. Here is a sample The facilities management department, them to be both interesting and informative. of the responses to the question: which is in charge of energy, water, recycling, 38 Living our values WESTFERRY ROAD PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID SILLITOE ROAD PHOTOGRAPHS: DAVID WESTFERRY waste and office supplies, reacted with switching to a green tariff this October for our which have remained uncoordinated. Many lightning speed to a challenge the company set main Farringdon Road headquarters, with the areas of our business also work around the it to improve our environmental management new accommodation at Herbal Hill is to switch clock on a shift basis, making us unrepresenta- and performance. in October 2005. Our satellite buildings, which tive of a typical office building. In January 2004 the Carbon Trust came to represent a significantly smaller consumption, Due to plans to relocate in 2008 it will be our offices to conduct a comprehensive audit are under contract until September 2005 and uneconomic to put in the level of investment and to make recommendations on how we may no longer form part of GNL’s property needed to dramatically reduce consumption, could improve our environmental performance portfolio (2004 target 30). but facilities management are looking at a within the organisation. Their detailed report Last year we also investigated the possibility range of shorter term actions as part of a partial was instrumental in helping the department to of placing solar panels on our flat roof, but the refurbishment of the building due to begin in formulate its environmental policy decision to move in four years made this uneco- October 2004, such as fitting electricity meters (2003 targets 20 & 21). nomical as the payback time is based on a much on each floor to monitor and help reduce To help implement and embed the new longer timescale. consumption. policy and develop a clear strategy, a GNL-wide Perhaps even more important than switch- A number of items of plant at GNL are environment steering group will be introduced. ing to green energy is looking at ways in which reaching the end of their lifecycle, thus present- This group will feed proposed action plans into we can actually reduce the amount we use in ing an opportunity for a replacement pro- a network of departmental activists who will the first place (2004 target 31). Our total elec- gramme to reflect high environmental coordinate activities at a local level, and tricity consumption for our main building last standards, including energy efficiency. We are encourage everyone to take responsibility for year fell marginally to 5.2m kWh, although we working with an external consultant to draw up environmental issues (2004 targets 27 & 28). have not yet actively focused on energy reduc- recommendations for all future plant and Alongside this, we will also be running an tion. Using the Carbon Trust’s energy bench- machinery replacement and refurbishment ongoing awareness raising campaign using marks, this means that we use 779kWh of (2003 target 23 / 2004 target 32). posters and the company intranet, encouraging electricity for every square metre, compared As part of our staff awareness campaign we any member of staff with an interest in environ- with 226kWh/m2 for a typical office building will be addressing employee behaviour by mental issues to get involved in the process and 128kWh/m2, which is the good practice focusing on how an individual’s action, or inac- (2004 target 29). target. The saving between our current costs tion, can directly affect energy consumption and good practice would be approximately and therefore CO2 emissions, and using the Energy 84%, equating to £130,000 a year. network of environment marshals to encourage With regard to carbon dioxide emissions, our ownership. Until recently we had been relying entirely on building produces around 416kg of CO2 for fossil fuel for our energy supplies. To bring us every square metre compared with an average Water more in line with our editorial values, we of 131kg/m2 and good practice of 73kg/m2. This switched to renewable energy when the first of equates to a total of 2,786 tonnes of carbon One area where we did make a big splash was in our contracts came up for renewal — our dioxide a year. our use of water, which fell by nearly a fifth to archive and visitor centre — in September One of the main reasons for our energy 8,275m3 during the year. This was largely due to 2003 (2003 target 22). inefficiency can be attributed to the fact that updating the urinal system so that it could be The facilities management team has also put main building was built in the 1960s and that changed from hourly flushing to only three together a strategy to switch all our supplies to we initially occupied only part of it. As we grad- times in a 24-hour period (2003 target 24). renewable energy when remaining contracts ually expanded to fill its eight floors, we inher- A good practice office building should use no come up for renewal. The proposal is based on ited a number of heating and cooling systems more than 7,700 litres of water for each person Living our values 39 yearly wastereport. yearwewillbeabletoproduceanaccurate next awareness withinthecompany. ofrecycling For monitoring,aswelltheraised accurate duetomore isinpart tonnesamonth.This 30 April-June 2004,weproducedanaverage of thirds ofwhichwentstraight tolandfill.From estimated 47 tonnesofwasteamonth,two- responsible disposaltominimiselandfill. ture. Wherethisisnotpossible,wewillensure GNLnolonger needs,suchasfurni- products that have areducedenvironmental impact; goods purchased,seekingviablealternatives prioritising themaccordingly; tribute toGNL’s environmental footprintand 0Livingourvalues 40 ofenvironmentnetwork marshals. implemented throughthesteeringgroupand intoGNL’sethos operations, whichwillbe planned toembeda“reduce,re-use,recycle” have Anumberofprojects been perspective. ing tolookatwasteissuesfromamorestrategic past year, facilitiesmanagement arenowstart- Having madegreat headway inthisareathe and consumption Recycling, waste disposal and therestaurant. also useitsfacilities,whichincludeshowers Road, many ofourstafffromsatellite buildings 900 employeesworkingat119Farringdon however, that althoughthisfigureis based on fell to9,200litresaperson.Itshouldbenoted, each yearandat GNL’s mainofficethefigure to switchinOctober2005 new accomodationatHerbalHill with the Road headquarters, October for ourmainFarringdon are changingtoagreentariffthis centre inSeptember2003. We energy inthearchive andvisitor We switchedtorenewable • • • Over thepastsixmonthstherehasbeena that GNLproducedan yearwereported Last This willinvolve: This Extending where possible the useful life of Extending wherepossibletheuseful of consumptionlevels current Challenging Identifying that con- businesspractices by schools(seethenational community section, founded, whichrefurbishescomputersforuse tion toTools forSchools,acharity weco- specifica- computer equipmentaboveacertain cling ofmorespecialistwaste.We giveallold programme. We arealsoimprovingourrecy- ing yeartoassessthesuccessofourrecycling figure willbecloselymonitoredoverthecom- This tonnes ofpaperamonthforrecycling. installed inourbackyard andaspecialbailerisbeing being collected installed oneachfloor, andcardboardboxesare now be recycled intopencils now berecycled butthosethat arethrownawaymore often will month. Staffwillbeencouraged tore-usethem each GNL usesalmost19,000ofthesecups toallwatercoolers. arebeingplacednext cups plastic Specialbinsforrecycling recyclable. them todiscardofany rubbishwhichisnon- that staffhave upandwalkto toconsciouslyget more sparselyaroundthefloors,whichmeans office wastewaspaper-based. found thatthevast majority ofourgeneral lastyearwhich to awasteauditconducted paper.sively forrecycling wasinresponse This replacing themwithbluebinstobeusedexclu- general wastebinsfromindividualdesksand give feedback andposterswithstaffencouragedto intranet tostaffthroughthe communicated extensively schemeisbeing sixmonths.The over thenext rolled outinstages toallotherdepartments floorinMaythe Observer 2004andwillbe being introduced.It wassuccessfullypilotedon processis GNL andacomprehensiverecycling wasteat ofhowwerecycle review complete We sendinganaverage arecurrently ofsix binsforcansandglassarebeing Recycling General wastebinsarebeingdottedGeneral much systeminvolves new takingawayThe small (2003 target 25&26) (2003 target (2004 target 33) (2004 target (2003 target 27) (2003 target . . .

DAVID SILLITOE tional prioritiesintheITdepart- on,duetomorepressing opera- failed toact 35) / 2004target alternatives suitable electronic andITislookinginto come upforrenewal, theirviability whencontracts tion, reviewing of faxmachineslocatedaroundtheorganisa- paper consumption which constitutesaround90%ofouroffice standard printingandphotocopyingstock, forall the switchfromvirginpapertorecycled copying paper. hasbeen Amajordevelopment papers aswellstandardprintingandphoto- that thefigurenowincludesallspecialist paper, aslightincreaseonlastyearduethefact employee usedonaverage of 8,972sheets meansthat each cost ofalmost£59,000.This company bought25,700 reamsofpaperata yearthe we consumeinthefirstplace.Last are alsoseekingtoreducetheamountofpaper Should we usepolybags? Observer Guardian tured all monoprintertonersarenowremanufac- and forChildLine, raisingmoney are recycled, Old mobilephonesandempty printcartridges cury, arealsotaken away forspecialdisposal. international legislation equipment incompliancewithnationaland IT fordisposalofobsolete cated service company, UK,whichprovidesacertifi- Device now passedontoTools forSchools’partner- senttolandfillare bished andwerepreviously whichcannotberefur- nals andkeyboards smallnumberofcomputertermi- page 46).The (2004 target 34) (2004 target appropriately, ratherthangoing tolandfill other GNLwastecanbere-usedordisposedof is continuouslyresearchingways inwhich We have steadilybeenreducingthenumber In we additiontoimprovingourrecycling, Fluorescent lighttubes,whichcontainmer- (2003 target 29) (2003 target 47 polybag packaged ina newspaper to be their weekend they preferred asked whether Readers were 57 Source: reader survey, June2004 yes % . . One target that. Onetarget wehave (2003 target 30) (2003 target . Facilities management (2003 target 28) (2003 target the environment polybagging on the impactof concerned about they were … andwhether 70 74 yes % (2003 target 31 (2003 target . . LINDA NYLIND

Leo Hickman scrubs his bath with a lemon in the of the conversion process along the way. ethical living series for the Guardian’s G2 ‘Readers Quickly realising that my willpower wasn’t even up to turning down the allure of a daily KitKat responsibility for, say, the decline in local com- from the office trolley, let alone overhauling my munity spirit, or how best to give time and care and entire lifestyle, I asked for help in the form of a money to charity. Readers even asked me to con- elite squad of ethical auditors. sider whether it’s ethical to have children. Three people made the grade and accepted (I have to say I certainly never banked on want to read the challenge — one from Friends of the Earth, being required to contemplate the planned one from the Soil Association, and one from obsolescence of our species as part of the chal- Ethical Consumer magazine. They then spent a lenge. I naively thought before it started that it day at my home auditing my family’s lifestyle in would amount to little more than placing bricks about the brutally frank detail (even my wife and baby in cisterns and recycling some cans.) daughter failed to escape their excoriating Due to this interaction with readers, the gaze) before issuing reams of recommendations experiment has been a much-cherished, environment’ for change. personal lesson in how readers can engage with But another, more powerful, motivating newspaper articles — be it leading them to Over the past year, GNL and I have shared a force soon made itself felt — the Guardian scream and shout at the words before them, or common bond: both of us have undergone reader. Before the ethical living articles started to chuckle and nod in acknowledgement or, environmental audits. While I can boast that in G2, Guardian Unlimited invited me to keep a hopefully, to challenge their assumptions. It has I’m personally responsible for fewer carbon weblog, or internet diary, of my journey. also shown me how much readers are keen to emissions than the seven-storey building at Beneath my diary entries an email address was express and share their opinions about what 119 Farringdon Road (although I do, I confess, made available for readers to send me their own newspapers publish. The Guardian now has a still take the lift more than the stairs), both of tips, advice and views, the best of which would number of forums in which readers keenly offer us have received similar overall ratings from also be published on the site. their collective wisdom — the letters page, of our auditors: “Good effort, but still room for Whether offering criticism or praise, it is course, but also places such as Notes and improvement.” always welcome and fruitful when a journalist Queries, Private Lives, and Guardian My own audit was part of an ethical living receives correspondence from a reader. But Unlimited’s ever-feisty message boards. experiment I have been undertaking and chart- where I had hoped for, at best, a few dozen But most importantly, perhaps, it has shown ing for G2. The experiment’s conception was emails, I actually ended up being sent more me how much readers care and want to read partly a reaction to the long-running conun- than 500. Furthermore, because of GU’s inter- about issues such as social responsibility and drum newspapers face of how to get more read- national readership, I received a diverse range the environment; issues that they closely asso- ers excited by weighty, important subjects such of advice and encouragement from readers as ciate with the Guardian and Observer. And, as social and environmental responsibility far away as Beijing and Arkansas. judging by some of the reaction, they evidently without coming across as preachy and worthy In combination, they had a profound and appreciate it when we practise what we preach. in tone. unpredicted effect on my experiment. Most However, I do openly admit that I have The idea was to utilise the “innocent abroad” significantly, they led me to greatly expand the drawn the line at some reader advice: “The approach by taking someone who didn’t scope of the experiment and move it beyond its most sustainable food source is skips,” wrote naturally concern himself with such things — initial remit of focusing simply on environmen- one reader from Leeds rather cheerily. “They’re shamefully, me — and challenging him to try to tal responsibility and to consider, in addition, quicker, cheaper and more fun than trekking change his ways, reporting on the high and lows much wider “ethical” issues, such as personal round a crowded supermarket. You also end up Living our values 41 Our yearly paper cycle (tonnes)

Total used 114,000

Printing waste 14,000

Unsold 23,000

Reader recycling* 70,000

Total recycled 107,000

Paper not recycled 7,000 Proportion not recycled 6% *based on reader survey 2004 results

Transport ment, is introducing default duplex Two years ago GNL introduced a new more council officers: none printing for all our printers which would environmentally friendly car policy. No Provision of maps of local cycle routes: fair reduce our paper consumption significantly. company cars are being given to new staff, •(last year none) This has been made a priority for the coming unless they are essential users, such as field Provision of cyclists’ “spares box” (pump, year (2003 target 32 / 2004 target 36). sales reps, and instead they are being offered a •spanner, etc): good We have significantly reduced the number of cash alternative. Arranging discounts at local cycle shop: publications coming into the building. The cost In an attempt to reduce the company’s exist- •good of magazine and paper subscriptions has been ing fleet of cars, staff are offered the chance to Cycle maintenance workshops: none cut by 18% (2003 target 33), and the number of hand their cars back and take a cash settlement, •In the past years we have made some Guardians and Observers has been reduced by and those with car parking passes are being improvements for cyclists, principally through 10% (2003 target 34). We hope to reduce offered an annual six-zone public transport raising awareness among staff. A new section this number further in the coming year by pass instead. All staff can also apply for an for the bicycle user group has been developed introducing more centralised stands where annual interest-free season ticket loan. As a on our intranet, with a link to a discussions staff can pick up their free newspapers, result of these actions, the number of GNL’s noticeboard containing information and advice enabling us to order quantities according to company cars has fallen steadily from more about cyclists’ facilities. New starters also need (2004 target 37). than 150 two years ago to 104 in June 2004. Of receive information on cycle facilities in the these, 20% use diesel, while the remaining cars starter pack. Contract services use unleaded petrol. Apart from cars, our main source of pollu- GNL also actively encourages bike use (2003 tion from transport is company air travel. Last Our restaurant is managed by Charlton House target 36). A daily average of 89 employees year, we totted up an estimated 3.3m passenger catering which has its own environmental used the bike storage facilities in April 2004, miles, amounting to around 700 tonnes of CO2. policy. Although it has improved supply of Fair- roughly the same as the previous year. This trade food and drinks (see the suppliers section, figure is likely to be higher in the summer and Printing and newsprint page 49), there has been less progress in identi- more than 400 staff have requested access on fying environmentally friendly packaging their electronic swipecards. A group of employ- One of the main reforms in corporate social options for takeaway food and drink. The ees has set up a cycling pressure group to push responsibility over the past few years has been restaurant manager is working closely with for better facilities. They looked at best practice companies starting to take responsibility for facilities management to review availability and among other companies and then compared it what is happening in their supply chains. It is suitability of options and will continue to do so to GNL’s provision: no longer enough for companies to make sure in the coming year (2003 target 35 / Safe, secure and covered cycle parking: fair their own houses are in order, but also that the 2004 target 38). •Lockers: none businesses that supply them with goods and Our cleaning services are contracted out •Changing/drying facilities and showers: services are being managed to a high standard. to RCS, which has its own environmental pol- •fair With this in mind, GNL has this year carried icy. Everyday cleaning products are dispensed Publicising to staff of facilities that are out independent audits of our printing and through pumpsprays rather than aerosols. •available: good (last year none) paper purchasing. The audits by the leading When aerosol cans are used, they are CFC-free. Mileage allowance: none consultancy csrnetwork have raised areas of All cleaning products used in GNL offices are •Loans and discounts for bicycle purchase: none concern that GNL needs to address. We do not biodegradable, except for its toilet cleaner •Relaxed dress code and flexible working own any of the printing plants we use but some which contains phosphoric acid to remove •hours: good of the sites are either wholly or partly owned limescale. •Affiliation and liaison with local groups and our parent company, Guardian Media Group, 42 Living our values DAVID SILLITOE DAVID

West Ferry Road print centre on the Isle of Dogs, or its Trader Media division. The company that we “set performance standards for suppliers in east London, has a top-level environmental buys our newsprint, Paper Purchase & Manage- and establish a simple audit schedule. This policy but does not yet have a management ment Ltd, is jointly owned by GMG and the would be a positive step and provide clear guid- system to ensure its implementation Telegraph group. ance for suppliers and also a better yardstick against which to audit their performance”. But csrnetwork did ask the sites to fill in a Magazine printing Possible standards might be: written questionnaire and additional informa- Positive reporting on specified items of legal tion was sought by telephone. While the Csrnetwork conducted site visits of our four •compliance (eg, in relation to the legislation consultant’s comments are inevitably con- main sites: Quebecor World, Corby; Polestar covering IPPC, trade effluent, waste strained by our lack of physical access to the Purnell, Bristol; and the two GMG-owned management, oil storage, packaging, etc); sites, it made the following preliminary conclu- plants Apple Web Offset, Warrington; and The existence of a meaningful environmental sions: “As with the magazine sites, there is no Wiltshire Print, Bristol. The consultants •policy, which identifies environmental impacts reason to believe that either of the sites is caus- reported that environmental management and management responsibilities; ing gross pollution or is in significant breach of arrangements at its contract print suppliers fall The development and implementation of an environmental legislation. Both Trafford Park short of good practice. Particular areas of •environmental management system, externally and West Ferry sites are registered under IPC concern are: certified to ISO14001; part B regulations and as such must regularly The absence of an environmental manage- The provision of numerical environmental submit reports to their local environmental •ment system (EMS) at any of the sites con- •performance data, specific to GNL’s publica- health departments on compliance with cerned. The existence of an EMS (whether or tions, covering, for example, energy consump- atmospheric emissions limits and certain other not independently certified to an established tion, greenhouse gases, VOC emissions, paper environmental performance criteria. Local standard such as ISO14001), gives a measure of waste recycling, special waste arisings. These environmental health officers will also visit confidence that environmental affairs are being data could then be consolidated annually and them periodically. managed systematically and proactively. “normalised” (eg, expressed for every printed “In respect of other legal requirements, both Quebecor and Polestar are moving towards an page or other unit of output) and this would sites appear to have proper trade effluent EMS approach and Trader Media has made a allow GNL to strengthen its own environmen- consents (for the discharge of effluent to public commitment in principle to do the same; tal reporting. sewer) and are using recognised waste Uncertainties over some points of GNL will be discussing these recommenda- management contractors. •compliance with environmental legislation, tions with our suppliers to agree a framework “Some environmental initiatives are being notably at the Trader Media sites; for improvements (2004 target 39). pursued, notably recycling of process paper, Some aspects of actual environmental waste and energy conservation, through •performance, notably the generally poor stan- Newspaper printing membership of the government’s climate dards of handling and storage of hazardous change levy scheme. materials observed during the audit — which Because of the enormous operational pressures “Although both sites have a top-level are not being actively addressed at all sites. of planning the installation of new presses nec- environmental policy, neither has an Csrnetwork concluded: “It is surely inconsis- essary for our reformatting plans, we could not environmental management system in place.” tent with GNL’s environmental values to accept this year carry out a full inspection of our two Given that GNL is negotiating the purchase anything less than good practice from contract main newspaper publishing sites in the UK: of new presses and deciding where to site them, print suppliers — including categorical assur- West Ferry in the Docklands of London and we are unable to make any decisions yet on ance that all environmental legislation is being Trafford Park Printers in Manchester, which is improving our environmental performance in met.” The consultants have recommended that half-owned by GMG. this area. Even so, we will be ensuring that the Living our values 43 But nearly three-quarters of the readers of both papers said they were concerned about the effect of the bags on the environment. From a commercial perspective, GNL feels polybagging is essential as it has been estimated that the papers would lose around a 10th of their circulation on Saturdays and Sundays if they were not used. Newspapers have one of the shortest shelf-lives of any product. If GNL were forced to rely on the manual insertion of all sections, there would be delays in getting the papers out for sale, particularly in supermar- kets, which are increasingly expecting papers to arrive ready for sale. Manual insertion of sec- tions is also open to high levels of error. We will, however, be keeping our eye on any technological developments that may offer a suitable alternative to the use of polybags. Virgin paper

Even though recycled paper makes up such a large percentage of our paper usage, we were keen to start looking at the make-up of our virgin fibre. We commissioned csrnetwork to advise on the responsible sourcing of paper. Based upon information publicly disclosed by paper companies and independently checked by GMG’s purchasing company, PPML, it found that around two-thirds of all our virgin

SEAN PAGET/NEWS TEAM SEAN PAGET/NEWS supply is covered by some form of certification. It is not possible to say what proportion comes Our papers are delivered by TNT Newsfast/ presses we do buy incorporate the latest Network Logistics. The condition of tyres is from standards that are held in high regard, technology to reduce energy usage as well as monitored to ensure full usage. They are recut or such as the Forestry Stewardship Council, but limiting waste and maximising the recycling of retread, within safe limits, and old tyres are csrnetwork estimates it to be considerably recycled chemicals (2004 target 40). less. Csrnetwork’s report concludes that a “signifi- Newsprint we also provide a lot of the raw material that cant proportion of our paper is made from recy- goes into producing it in the UK. This means cled fibre and the majority of the suppliers used The area where we have the biggest environ- that relatively little carbon is released during are known to be reputable”. Even so, it says mental impact is in our newsprint purchasing. the publishing process. GNL cannot currently reassure its readers that In 2003 GNL consumed 113,956 tonnes of A little over 10% of paper goes to waste at our “all the fibre used to produce its newsprint paper, up slightly from the previous year. print sites because it can take some time for the comes from reputable sources”. Given that Recycled paper made up 75% (76% in 2002) quality of the printing to reach an acceptable newsprint forms a relatively large proportion of of the raw material for newsprint bought for the level. All of this goes back to recycling plants, our cost base, GNL’s paper purchasing com- Guardian, Observer and other GMG regional except for unused end of roll paper which is pany is keen to use smaller independent mills and local newspapers. This is well above the sold exclusively to Middleton Waste Paper, to prevent the newsprint industry from further industry average of 68.6%. It is also higher than which sells it for wrapping up fish & chips. The consolidation, which will inevitably lead to the voluntary agreement between the govern- 20% of papers which are returned to whole- higher prices. At the same time PPML says ment and the Newspaper Publishers Associa- salers in the form of unsold copies are also sent that, unlike the big players in the industry, the tion, which called for a 70% recycled content by to recycling plants. Our recent independent smaller mills tend not to have certificated the end of 2006. But GMG supported the Tele- survey of readers found that 93% of Guardian supplies. Smaller mills also tend to be cheaper. graph group during the year by swapping some customers recycle their paper, while 86% of GNL recognises the importance of playing a of its prepurchased recycled supply for virgin Observer readers do likewise. Adding all these positive role in ensuring best practice and will newsprint which the Telegraph needed to com- figures together suggests around 94% of our therefore seek to start taking action on this over mission new presses. This brought GMG’s paper is re-used. the next year. actual usage of recycled paper down to 65.3%. Our reader survey also showed that just over Since the issue of uncertificated wood affects GNL has three constraints on the use of two-thirds of readers of the Guardian were the whole newspaper industry, we intend to recycled paper. First, there are products such as happy with the size of the paper from an envi- take a lead on this issue within the Newspaper magazines, where only virgin paper can be used ronmental perspective, although this figure fell Publishers Association. The NPA has itself in the gravure printing process to achieve the to 57% for Observer readers. Even though our commissioned the International Institute for glossy finish. Some of the paper’s smaller sup- Sunday readers showed more concern, this Environment and Development to audit how plements, such as Online, can use only virgin shows an ambivalent attitude as there is a direct much paper comes from certificated schemes paper because the presses cannot handle low correlation in the weekend quality newspaper (2004 target 41). pagination products using recycled content. market between the size of a paper and its sale. GNL will also work with PPML to gather Also, paper cannot be recycled indefinitely as This ambivalence was also on show when we more reliable data over the next year on exactly fibres wear out by becoming smaller and losing asked about our use of clear plastic bags to how much of our paper comes from respected their capacity to bind with other fibres to form wrap some editions of the Guardian’s Saturday certified schemes and then start a dialogue with a strong paper. The industry, therefore, needs a multi-section paper, as well as the Observer. mills to encourage them to develop more constant flow of fresh fibres from the forests to When we asked whether readers preferred the sustainable practices (2004 targets 42 & 43). maintain the product quality. paper to be packaged in a polybag, 57% of Not only do we use a lot of recycled paper but Guardian and 47% of Observer readers agreed. Distribution 44 Living our values Community Roots and shoots

ship in Manchester and a coaching project with We belong to local communities around our senior managers at Pentonville prison. with a group of Muslim girls in Ghana. The London and Manchester offices, as well as Criteria for local community projects are: project stimulated and explored discussion recognising our responsibilities to our national Local partner charities and schools are about the gender and sexual health issues faced and international communities. This is reflected •within a mile radius of our offices in London by young women in the UK and Ghana through in our philanthropic activities, which range and Manchester; the use of digital technology. The project was in from local school partnerships and the sponsor- Partnerships are long-term, sustainable and partnership with the British Council and the ship of national charities to encouraging the •equal, with both sides benefiting and taking British high commission in Ghana. development of a free press in Eastern Europe responsibility for success; Alongside the ongoing and long-term pro- and creating educational projects in Africa. Funding is channelled into our community jects, we also support one-off requests. Richard In its statement of objectives, the Scott Trust •partners and wherever possible linked to volun- Cloudesley special school, for example, is mov- has an interest in “promoting the causes of free- teering projects; ing to a new site in partnership with two other dom in the press and liberal journalism, both in Funding is also used to leverage financial schools. We facilitated a half-day vision building Britain and elsewhere”. GNL is also passionate •support and resources from elsewhere; workshop between headteachers, governors and about education. Our weekly Guardian Educa- Projects focus on education, journalism and council officials to build a strong foundation for tion supplement is an invaluable resource to its •HIV/Aids. the ambitious £30m-plus project. readership of 1.8 million teachers, educational experts, parents and teachers. Alongside this, Schools Pentonville prison we also run a hugely successful education web- site, EducationGuardian.co.uk, and the leading We have partnerships with three local schools GNL has always been interested in prison reform online curriculum website, Learnthings. The in London in the primary, secondary and so it was a natural step to want to form a coach- Guardian also sponsors the annual Teaching special needs sectors. Our activities centre on ing partnership with Pentonville prison, which is Awards which celebrate excellence in education. mentoring and reading as well more general close to our main London office. As part of a pilot support. This year we expanded to involve our scheme launched by Business in the Community, Local community Manchester staff in a nearby primary school. five qualified coaches from a range of GNL All the schools are typical of inner-city areas departments have been paired with senior With more than 1,400 employees, GNL plays a with around 60% of students using English as a managers at the prison to provide management part in the economic prosperity of its local com- second language, and a large proportion support and individual mentoring. munities. More significant than our economic receiving free school meals. impact is the use of GNL’s resources and skills Our flagship project is with an Islington Management and evaluation to support numerous local community and secondary school for girls, Elizabeth Garrett charitable initiatives. Now into its fifth year, Anderson. We have developed a successful one- The community scheme is run by two dedicated our community scheme has developed long- to-one mentoring scheme for 14-year-olds, which members of staff. Part of their role is to help term partnerships with four local schools and aims to improve attitudes to work, self-esteem match the requirements of our community Pentonville prison, which is close to our head- and personal organisation. We also have a num- partners with the vast array of in-house skills quarters. We support our community partners ber of reading volunteers who provide pupils with among our workforce, whether it be from the by providing volunteers and funding as well as one-on-one and small group learning conditions creative writing and design side to the many seeking expertise from other companies where that teachers cannot often provide. commercial operations, such as advertising and necessary. Around a hundred, or 7%, of our At EGA we added an international dimen- conferences and events. We also have a policy in employees volunteer regularly, an increase on sion to our work in 2004 by co-creating a six- place to allow employees to use up to eight last year due to the launch of a school partner- month online interactive digital video exchange hours a month of work time volunteering. Living our values 45 GRAHAM TURNER

To ensure that the school partnership The business case my designated school and the mentoring schemes are well run and as effective as possi- Apart from the natural desire to make a differ- scheme has made it easier for me to develop ble, we have developed a close relationship with ence in our local community, there have been a links there.” Community Service Volunteers, Britain’s largest number of other benefits from our involve- Useful links: guardian.co.uk/community, volunteer organisation. CSV helps by indepen- ment. Staff appreciate that GNL offers them a guardian.co.uk/education, learn.co.uk dently monitoring the schemes. We initially well-managed and easy way to “give something pilot all of our schemes on a small scale to back”. From a commercial perspective, our National community ensure that we and our partners can fulfil our advertisers, particularly in the public and obligations and, perhaps more importantly, that voluntary sectors, are able to see a practical way On a national scale, our most ambitious project the schemes are meeting their objectives. On the in which we are living up to our principles. is the Newsroom visitor and archive centre qualitative side, we also believe that the right Volunteers’ experience also enriches our which brings together journalism and education. chemistry needs to be in place to build positive products. For staff who have to write about The Newsroom has developed a strong reputa- relationships, and that trust takes time to build. issues such as social deprivation and racial tion since it opened two years ago. Funded by the inequality, the community scheme puts them Scott Trust, the centre is located opposite the Impacts directly in touch with people who have to face Guardian and Observer London offices, and these problems in their daily lives. receives visiting groups from schools and other Effective partnerships only work when all sides The working lives of volunteers from organisations from all over Britain. Groups work benefit. Hugh Myddleton primary school near Learn.co.uk, our curriculum website, have ben- with two full-time education officers to create a our London headquarters has steadily increased efited directly from their involvement. Hilary newspaper front page, based on the day’s news, its request for reading volunteers from six to Ellis, senior commissioning editor, said: “It’s using state-of-the-art IT and specially designed almost 30 in the past two years. The deputy been hugely rewarding for me to be able to talk software. The range of workshops has been headteacher, Joan Roberts, believes the volun- on a regular basis with students. Although our extended to include history and science as well as teer readers have played a part in the school’s sites are mainly targeted at teachers, students ones supporting the Newsroom’s exhibitions. recognition from the Department for Education are the ones who need to be engaged with the The popular educational sessions are free of and Skills this year for their outstanding content on them. I spend a lot of time writing charge and generally booked a year in advance key stage 2 test results. The school has been site proposals and it’s given me a picture of the with a long waiting list. awarded “value-added” status, putting it at the users I have in mind and how they feel about Between April 2003 and March 2004, the top position in Islington and among the top 100 school and learning. Also it’s been really good Newsroom ran 514 educational sessions, more primary schools in the country. for me to be able to understand some of what than twice as many as the previous year, It is difficult to measure accurately the wide teachers have to deal with.” involving more than 9,000 individuals includ- range of often intangible benefits that the Emily Drabble, news desk editor at Learn, ing schoolchildren, further and higher educa- community scheme has and often testimonials said taking part in the mentoring project at tion students, teachers, adult learners and speak the loudest (see page 47). In the coming EGA had “enhanced my professional work. I families. The Newsroom has a rolling pro- year, however, we will be looking at ways to write for nine- to 14-year-olds and it’s a great gramme of public exhibitions, which over the monitor how students’ own perceptions of reality check to develop friendships with past year have included a commemoration of themselves change over the course of the read- children in this age group. Also we have set up a the 10-year anniversary of the genocide in ing and mentoring projects with respect to system of partner schools at learnpremium. Rwanda and a showing of Jane Bown’s rock reading ability, confidence and other soft skills These are schools with which to develop a and pop portraits. (2004 target 44). special relationship and get feedback about the It also has an archive which preserves the service we offer. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson is heritage of the Guardian, the Observer and 46 Living our values At Elizabeth Garrett Anderson we added an international What they say about dimension to our work in 2004 the volunteers by co-creating a six-month online interactive digital video Michelle Stanley, the literacy coordina- exchange with a group of tor at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson secondary school, runs a lunchtime Muslim girls in Ghana. The reading club for around 30 girls aged project stimulated and explored 11-12. Eleven volunteers from the discussion of the gender and Guardian and Observer attend the sexual health issues faced by weekly club to work with small groups to support reading and discuss the young women in the UK and books: Ghana through the use of digital “Educationally it provides students with technology the regular, sustained one-to-one reading support that is unlikely to happen so frequently in a classroom. The small group setting allows weaker students to have their problems addressed and provides valuable opportunities for students to read aloud who would be too shy or sensitive to criticism to do so in a class of 30. “Perhaps even greater value is gained An Observer volunteer helps students with from the social interaction that takes place. reading (left) at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Students work consistently with one vol- school in Islington, London. Alongside Business unteer who they often become attached to in the Community we have begun a coaching as a non-teaching adult who they can talk partnership at Pentonville prison (right), where management support and individual mentoring to and trust. The volunteer also provides a is offered SILLITOE DAVID positive role model of a successful, well- educated individual who is working for a Guardian Unlimited and enables others to redesign, and Learnthings will be supporting it well-known organisation. This gives the share our history. Documents include in the coming year. students a vista on a world that in all other correspondence, photographs, subject files, guardian.co.uk/newsroom circumstances they would be unlikely to illustrations, audio interviews and marketing see. material. Payroll giving and match-funding “Finally there is the fun part. As well as Two full-time archivists manage the mater- the sessions themselves, which generate a ial, including the production of electronic cata- While GNL supports various charities, we also fun learning environment which is so vital logues describing corporate and personal offer incentives to staff to support the causes of for engaging students in the learning collections. Once catalogued, material is their choice. As well as matching employees’ process, the partnership opens up the available to all bona fide researchers at no own fundraising pound for pound for the first possibility for students to have experiences charge in our dedicated reading room. £100, GNL encourages its staff to support their that they would not normally have. The archive’s focus for the coming year is to favoured national and local charities by provid- “For example, two students were taken increase the volume of material that is ing a cash incentive to sign up to our Give as to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, Fifteen, by a catalogued and available to researchers. You Earn scheme: 26% of our 1,433 staff now journalist to discuss school dinners and to Apart from the Newsroom, GNL donates donate through their payroll, which compares comment on Jamie’s food. This resulted in £20,000 annually to the Newspaper Education with a national average of just 2%, and 130 new a double-page feature in the Guardian’s G2 Trust based at Westferry Printers, where the staff signed up in the past year. As a result, section. Guardian and Observer are printed. The trust more than 200 charities received an extra “The overall result is that students are works with school groups on a variety of jour- £70,000 over the past year. more confident and aware. This leads to nalism-based projects. We also have a partner- International community greater engagement in lessons and in ship with Children’s Express, a charity that education generally, having seen the value works with disadvantaged youth through the The heart of our international work is fulfilled of education and the opportunities it could medium of journalism. We provided coaching by the Scott Trust’s charitable arm, the provide them with. Overall it is a broaden- support to its staff and piloted a mentoring Guardian Foundation, which supports the ing and engaging experience that supports project with them. creation and running of successful and editori- and encourages students that are at risk of The Scott Trust spends £60,000 a year sup- ally independent newspapers in the Guardian failing in education.” porting the development of talented journalists tradition, in eastern Europe and southern in this country by providing bursaries for six Africa. The Foundation brings together jour- A year 10 student from Elizabeth aspiring writers to study journalism at City nalists at a relatively senior level to share Garrett Anderson school in Islington, University London or Sheffield University. experiences and perspectives, through semi- who has benefited from her mentor: GNL has a close relationship with national nars and work placements at home and abroad. “I have concentrated more in my work charity Tools for Schools, which sources high- But it also increasingly entails the provision of because my mentor has made me see quality computers from industry to refurbish expertise in commercial as well as editorial things in a different light and I like it. She and upgrade for schools across Britain as well newspaper production. has given me new ideas and she makes me as for home learning. In eastern Europe, the foundation formed a read books and I never read books before GNL co-founded and invested more than new partnership with the BBC World Service — because of my mentor I love to read £250,000 in the charity and continues to sup- Trust, which took Sarah Lester from the Man- books and have seen life in a different way.” port it on a more practical level. Our chief exec- chester Evening News and Mike McNay from utive and finance director advise TfS, Guardian the Guardian to Odessa in Ukraine. Another A student from Richard Cloudesley Unlimited worked with it on its website new area of operation was in Moldova where a Living our values 47 What the volunteers say Our community budget The community scheme is not only seen Community scheme activities including volunteer by employees as actively supporting training, project management and evaluation, £54,000 GNL’s values, but the experience also and administration (GNL) makes their individual lives richer. Guardian and Observer charitable giving (GNL) Volunteering helps staff to develop new £10,000 Matchfunding for staff fundraising and payroll skills which they can use in their work and giving (GNL) home lives. These can range from £10,000 increased assertiveness and patience to West Ferry Education Trust: support for running motivational techniques and conflict costs (GNL) resolution. £20,000 Newsroom archive and education centre Hannah Pool, Weekend magazine (Scott Trust) including archive, education, commissioning editor and mentor at exhibition, revenue, utilities, rates, depreciation £735,000 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school: Bursaries for journalists in the UK “From a selfish point of view, it’s been bags of (Scott Trust) fun — fulfilling and challenging. It’s an £60,000 Guardian Foundation, including project funding, amazing feeling to think you might be some- running and administration costs (Scott Trust) one who a young adult, in say 10 years’ time Membership of Business in the Community, £167,000 looks back on and says, ‘Yes, they really Media Trust, and Commonwealth Press Union made a difference; they made me think (GMG) about new opportunities I didn’t think were Charitable giving from other GMG divisions (not £28,000 open to the likes of me.’ The project has including GNL) given me a much better idea on how we can introduce the Guardian to younger readers, Total £53,000 and to readers outside our normal constituency. “Getting these kids interested in the paper £1,137,000 is an effort but very rewarding once they are interested. You feel like you’ve let them in on team from the Guardian’s advertising depart- environment editor John Vidal’s Weekend a secret which plenty of others (that is, nice ment provided practical advice on how to build magazine feature about the people of a small middle class kids) know about already and advertising revenue. The foundation built on its village in Malawi unable to finance their chil- hopefully one day that will be of use to them. longstanding relationship with the British dren’s education. Readers donated more than It’s the old adage about knowledge being Association for Central and Eastern Europe, £20,000, which is already paying for 24 power. staging a London seminar for 26 journalists children from Gumbi to go to secondary school. “I can’t stress enough what a wonderful from 13 European Union applicant countries guardian.co.uk/values scheme I think this is. It is all too easy to put entitled Reporting Europe. money in a charity box or buy the Big Issue, In South Africa, the foundation continues its Christmas appeal but that’s hardly a commitment and I have financial underpinning of the Mail & really benefited from feeling committed to Guardian’s training scheme. 2003 was also the Another way that readers can get involved is by something — from taking time out of the rat first year that the trust made a separate pot of supporting the annual Christmas appeal, which race and doing something that isn’t about £50,000 available for backing individual this year focused on hidden conflicts both at work, news, or money — and I’m sure in projects. home and abroad. Readers and web users turn that has had a beneficial affect on my donated a record £843,744 for Médecins sans day-to-day performance. Getting involved Frontières and a range of UK domestic violence “I went to a school not at all dissimilar to charities. Continuing our commitment to the EGA and I know that if I’d had a mentor at In the spring of 2004 we launched a new section selected charities, we support them in the year the age of 14 it would have made a world of on Guardian Unlimited called Living our values. after the appeal in a more practical capacity. As difference.” As well as hosting information on GNL’s com- with previous recipients, we designed and pro- munity involvement and an electronic version of duced a colour magazine for Médecins sans David Marsh, assistant editor (produc- this audit, there is a new section called Get Frontières, which featured all the Christmas tion) at the Guardian and an EGA mentor: involved, where readers and web users are given appeal coverage, and was sent out to 60,000 of “It’s good for the kids because we are really the chance to actively support editorial their supporters. For the UK charities, GNL helping to widen their horizons, making campaigns which have moved them. hosted a seminar to share best practice among them realise that university and jobs like The initial projects set up this year are both in domestic violence advocacy projects. journalism are for the likes of them, too, not Malawi. The first is a follow-up to the Guardian Proactive relationships can continue well just for kids from middle-class backgrounds. health editor Sarah Boseley’s award-winning beyond the year, as shown by our support for a It’s good for Guardian staff, too, because Saving Grace investigation into why most new partnership between Theatre for a Change, instead of just writing about the problems of people with Aids in Africa are not receiving ActionAid and the British Council. The project inner-city schools, people who live on coun- affordable life-saving anti-retroviral drugs. She is seeking to reduce the number of new infec- cil estates in poor areas, etc, we are actually focused her report on Grace Mathanga, an Aids tions of HIV/Aids among young people, by getting out and finding out a bit about it. It’s sufferer from Malawi. Hundreds of readers encouraging behavioural change through inter- broadening our horizons, just as it is those of wrote to Boseley wanting to help out and, as a active theatre. GNL supported ActionAid’s the kids. It’s good for the company. Everyone result, the Saving Grace Foundation was set up, work with orphans suffering from HIV/Aids in at the school is thrilled to bits at our involve- supported by GNL to channel readers’ dona- sub-saharan Africa in 2001. ment. That goes beyond the school, too, to tions into paying for individuals’ medication. guardian.co.uk/christmasappeal the families and friends of the girls. It’s rais- Readers have donated thousands of pounds to ing our profile in the local area and showing provide long-term treatment free of charge. How much do we give? we don’t just sit in our ivory castle, writing The second project was established after the 48 Living our values Suppliers Spreading best practice

While profitability, efficiency and good rela- company-wide supplies. This year it has car- feasibility of supplying a wider range of Fair- tionships with our suppliers are important to ried out a review of its tendering process, trade and organic foodstuffs (2004 target 46). GNL, the principles of the Scott Trust add a significantly increasing the importance of Internationally, GNL also takes the issue of significant ethical dimension to the way we do environmental and diversity considerations human rights seriously. We use a company in business. There has been a dramatic shift in the when choosing new suppliers. Two-thirds of a Pakistan to reformat all our classified news- past year in the importance placed on environ- questionnaire sent out to companies is now paper advertising for our website. In 2001, two mental and ethical considerations when choos- dedicated to these issues, and suppliers are senior managers flew to Pakistan to carry out ing new partners, as well as seeking to influence also referred to this publication, Living our an ethical and business audit of the company. A our existing suppliers. values, for information on GNL’s social, report was subsequently presented to the GNL environmental, and ethical performance board which concluded that wages and Ethical procurement (2003 target 37). conditions were fair. Suppliers are asked for comprehensive infor- A development this year has been an indepen- mation on their environmental impacts, report- Readers’ offers dent environmental audit of our print sites and ing and benchmarking as well as compliance paper purchasing processes, to try to establish with environmental legislation. In the area of Another area of best practice is the enterprise the effects of our business further down the equality and diversity we now request details of department, which manages reader offers. It supply chain. Companies involved in the print- suppliers’ recruitment processes and any cases of follows a strict code of conduct to ensure it ing and production of our products are by far racial discrimination. This year the procurement works only with external partners who trade our biggest suppliers and consequently have department will work on raising awareness with fairly and ethically. It always insists on full the largest impacts. existing suppliers of our social, environmental certification of wooden products and, if there is As valued customers, however, we also have and ethical values (2004 target 45). any uncertainty about the origin of any the potential to influence them by requesting Facilities management has also been work- product, it seeks the advice of organisations they meet certain standards (see the environ- ing with our in-house catering provider to such as Friends of the Earth and the ment section, page 41). increase the range of Fairtrade and organic Anti-Slavery League. With our plans to reformat in the next two produce on offer. As a result of a target set out Any complaints arising from reader offers years, a big investment will be the purchasing in last year’s audit, Fairtrade tea and coffee is are tracked by the enterprise department and of new printing presses. Environmental consid- now exclusively supplied to department passed on to the relevant supplier, who will erations will be taken into account such as meetings and events. then investigate. This data is used to ensure waste and efficiency, as well as the knock-on In the staff restaurant, all of our coffee is that any areas of poor performance are regeneration and employment effects that our Fairtrade with the option for staff to purchase reviewed and improvements made. In the last decisions will generate. Press manufacturers fairtrade tea as an alternative (2003 target 38). financial year, the enterprise department and will be asked about their diversity policies, In the coming year, we will be looking into the its suppliers received 340 complaints, repre- training and recruitment of staff, and bench- senting 0.2% of total sales. This is a significant marks such as the number of women in senior Suppliers are asked for decrease on the previous year’s 579 complaints, positions. comprehensive information on 0.5% of sales. On a smaller scale, GNL deals with more The enterprise department has also than 1,100 companies for its day-to-day needs. their environmental impacts, launched a website to enable us to monitor the Although we do not have a centralised pro- reporting and benchmarking as length of time it takes for partner suppliers to curement function, the facilities management well as compliance with answer calls and the number of calls that are department does much of the purchasing for environmental legislation abandoned. While we have always had the Living our values 49 How do suppliers rate us?

How does your relationship with Agree Disagree Don’t GNL compare with the There are, of course, occasions strongly/ strongly/ know relationship you have with other where content is reproduced in slightly slightly customers? (%) breach of copyright. A letter is Very/quite Not very/ Don’t GNL is fair favourable not at all know then sent to the organisation and favourable informing it of its breach and reasonable 98 2 0 Paying notifying it not to do it again, Good work- promptly ing 64 927 with a threat of legal action relationship 98 2 0 Treating should it do so. In the past, the GNL suppliers fairly syndication department has behaves 92 3 5 with 95 1 4 Communicat- refused to sell content to Weintegrity have a ing organisations including the Ku long-term effectively 95 4 1 Klux Klan, German Playboy, a relationship 94 2 4 Good Effective working porn website and an Arabic two-way relationship 97 2 1 website containing homophobic comms 92 7 1 Source: supplier survey, March 2003 GNL content gives us feedback 80 13 7 GNL pays promptly 62 15 23

ability to look at specific numbers after being threat of legal action should it do so. With regard to prompt payments, while the alerted to a problem by a reader, the new In the past, the syndication department has overall score was much lower, this was in part system can alert us before readers complain. refused to sell content to organisations offset by the large number of don’t knows. In the coming year we are planning to recruit including the Ku Klux Klan, German Playboy, a Fewer than 10% of those asked believed that a team of mystery shoppers from retired porn website and an Arabic website containing GNL was less favourable than their other Guardian personnel who will be reporting back homophobic content. customers in terms of paying promptly. each month on all aspects of the reader offers service (2004 target 47). Supplier relationships Payment Syndication To discover how suppliers perceive GNL, we GNL does take the issue of supplier payment On the other side of the supplier relationship commissioned an independent telephone seriously, and aims to pay suppliers according we also vet business customers who use our survey carried out by ICM in March 2003. to agreed terms. We use two different processes commercial syndication service to reproduce Interviews were conducted with the supplier for supplier payments — one for editorial and editorial content. The Guardian News Service relationship managers from 100 companies the other for non-editorial payments — deals with the commercial licensing of content which sell more than £10,000 of goods or although they have a number of similarities. All from all our products to customers looking to services to GNL each year. The sample inter- costs are initially recorded and approved in republish copy, photographs or graphics in viewed represented all the main GNL depart- London and the invoices are then sent to our print and digital media. ments: circulation, IT, advertising, marketing, Manchester office where payments are made on As a revenue-generating department there is development, production, editorial, personnel, a daily basis. a great pressure to balance the fulfilment of its finance, facilities, and enterprise. Our average for editorial payments is targets with ensuring that our values are not Key suppliers to GNL are approximately currently 14 days for the Guardian and 15 days compromised by selling to unethical customers. 70% service providers and 30% goods for the Observer, compared with 11 and 16 days To avoid this, new customers are always providers and the sample interviewed broadly respectively in 2003. researched through their websites to make sure represented this split. Services include press For non-editorial payments, the creditors there is not a conflict of interests. and picture agencies, media and advertising days calculation has worsened over the past Where we regularly supply content to a agencies, distribution and wholesalers, legal year, from 37 days to 44 days. customer we have a contract in place which services, training providers and consultancy. These figures compare unfavourably with includes strict guidelines concerning condi- Goods include print production and repro, IT our target of 10 days for editorial payments and tions of content reproduction. These state: equipment, publications, photographic goods 30 days for other purchases, although they are “The content may not be used in any publica- and food. The survey will be repeated in 2005 better than then average for medium-sized tion that contains any material which is illegal, to benchmark our performance. businesses in general (2003 targets 39 & 40). sexually explicit, promotes violence or is The results showed that overall GNL enjoys We are committed to improving perfor- discriminatory against race, gender, religion, good relationships with suppliers and that mance and are undertaking detailed analysis to nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age, companies believe we have a high degree of find out exactly where the delays in our or otherwise is derogatory or brings GNL into integrity. processes lie. disrepute.” When asked how satisfied suppliers were We record various dates relating to actions in There are, of course, occasions where content with the relationship with GNL, 98% said they the procure-to-pay process, and analysis of is reproduced in breach of copyright. A letter is were very satisfied or quite satisfied. In terms of these will help us identify departments or parts then sent to the organisation informing it of its how we compare with other customers, the of the process that are not working satisfacto- breach and notifying it not to do it again, with a results were generally favourable (see table). rily. We are also looking at how technology, 50 Living our values Governance Transparency and integrity

While the change of format has dominated the together more than its structure and systems. £235,000 plus a performance-related bonus of board’s thinking in the past few months, GNL Openness, transparency and accountability are £150,000 and £17,000 benefits in kind. The and its parent company, GMG, have also been words which have become the unquestioned editor received a salary plus benefits in kind of improving our corporate transparency and holy grails of good governance and, while £272,000 (£265,000). He has no contractual governance. These are issues that the Guardian important, have been praised to the exclusion entitlement to a bonus payment. and Observer have consistently campaigned on of principles which are actually at the heart of GNL in our editorial pages. good governance — trust, confidence and integrity — and without which would have little The Guardian board has executive responsibil- GMG value. ity for running the national newspapers “In a world where celebrity overshadows division of GMG, and comprises 18 directors, of For the first time in 2004, GMG has separated substance, where fact has to fight hard against whom 14 form the executive board with day-to- out the turnover and profit/loss of each innuendo, the possession of trust is a staunch day responsibility for running the business. The division, including GNL, in its reports and ally in any enterprise, let alone a noble enter- GNL board takes responsibility for business accounts as well as updated its corporate gover- prise, which I believe this one to be.” strategy and planning for each of the Guardian nance to closely follow the combined code The chairman and all executive directors and Observer national titles, and latterly for the issued by the Institute of Chartered Accoun- have undergone a rigorous performance websites which make up Guardian Unlimited, tants in England and Wales in 2003. appraisal, which is now being extended to an as well as other profitable activities which While our editorial staff have been looking at evaluation of the board, its committees and its support the national brands. how we can build trust among our readers, the independent directors. At strategic level, GNL’s business plans for GMG board has been seeking to build trust in On the issue of pay, the salaries of GNL each financial year to the end of March are pre- our business operations. directors are determined by the remuneration pared consistent with the GMG board’s The GMG chairman, Paul Myners, wrote in committee of GMG. As a private company, timetable, which entails final approval in the latest annual report and accounts: “We GNL does not need to disclose directors’ pay. March each year for the forthcoming year. As operate in a period of unparalleled distrust, of But it does publish the figure for both the chief well as an operational financial plan, prospec- politicians, of people in positions of authority executive and the Guardian editor, as they both tive capital investment is identified which will generally, whether in business or public life. I sit on the main GMG board. include fixed asset purchases, projects and believe that one way of defining a society is by In the 2004 accounts, it was reported that acquisition targets. Indicative trading for the what it fears most. the chief executive was paid a total of next three to five years is also set out, as well as “We are becoming profoundly afraid of £402,000, compared with £406,000 the statistical information concerning sales targets, breaches of trust in all walks of life, particularly previous year. This was made up of a salary of headcounts and the like. in business and the professions, with a The planning cycle for GNL now comprises a perceived crisis of trust in society, which places rolling three-year plan compiled in late autumn increasing focus on making institutions trans- The chairman and all executive each year, informed by quarterly reforecasting parent, whether in the private or public sector. directors have undergone a (ie, continual benchmarking), and forms a large To enhance the transparency and understand- rigorous performance part of the preparation leading to annual sign- ing of our own activities we are providing more appraisal, which is now being off of budgets by GMG. detail in the segmental analysis of the group’s Authority for expenditure is thus a cascade operations across its operating divisions. extended to an evaluation and, after GMG board approval, the budgets “However, transparency on its own is not of the board, its committees are confirmed to managers to ensure consis- enough. A company’s values and beliefs hold it and its independent directors tency and control. Throughout the year Living our values 51 14 18 directors include two non-executive directors includetwo non-executive directors fourother whom areGNLboardmembers.The onlythreeof GNLdirectors, prised ofseven GNLdivisionalboardiscom- processes. The enable streamlinedinformationandapproval theGNLandGMGboardsto bridge between istoprovidea divisional boardwhosefunction accounting policies. internal control;riskmanagement;and disciplines whichconcerntheGNLboard: therearethree level, board. Onapractical bytheGNL areadoptedasnecessary These committees oftheGMGboardrespectively. audit, remuneration,andnomination of theprinciplesisthenresponsibility ofthe tradingdivisions.Observance by therespective established bytheGMGboard,andadheredto recommended forchange. monitored and,wherenecessary, may be legislativestandardsis and draft statutory their auditoftrading,appropriate adoptionof Insystems, control,andreporting. thecourse of professional integrity offinancialaccounting objective firm, PwCbringsanimportant the group’s a“bigfour”accounting account.As aformaltenderingof reappointed in2003after Pricewaterhouse Coopers,whowere GMGauditorsare dated trading accounts.The in thegroupareaudited,includingconsoli- GMG board. ismirroredtothe point, financialreporting tive measuresmay beimplemented.Ateach and/or proactive andobjectives, prospects reac- According tohistorictrading,assumed plan andtolasttheforecastrespectively. tradingtothebudget comparingactual reports receivefinancial monthly boardmeetings 2Livingourvalues 52 Apart fromtheGNLboardthereisalsoa Apart principlesforcorporategovernance are The eachyearend,thetrading companies After 3 Guardian Newspapers Limited directors form theboardof which takes day-to-day responsibility of themform theexecutive board the Observer, andGuardianUnlimited operations fall intotheircontrol: theGuardian, chief executive ofGMG Paul Myners(above) private orpublicsector’ transparent, whetherinthe focus onmakinginstitutions society, whichplacesincreasing with aperceived crisisoftrustin business andtheprofessions, in walks oflife, particularly afraid ofbreachestrustinall ‘We arebecomingprofoundly

GRAHAM TURNER The socialandcommunity affairsteamconsults The and implementation Target setting,approval as championatGNLboardlevel. corporate socialresponsibility, whointurnacts ofcorporate affairs,onallissuesof director intoShaunWilliams,the regularly report socialandcommunity affairsteam The interestinthearea. who have aparticular committee of10stafffromacrossthecompany intoandseekfeedbackfroma also report they impacts, social, environmental andethical practically.and, wherepossible,reflected ensure thatScott Trust values areconsidered with managersinallareasofthebusinessto liaiseclosely They producing thefinalreport. auditprocessand environmental and ethical Part oftheirroleismanagingtheannualsocial, time employees,Jo ConfinoandEmmaWright. whichconsistsoftwo full- affairs department GNL hasadedicated socialandcommunity Governance ofCSRatGNL and policies. —andallemployee-relatedprocedures reviews risk registermaintenanceandpost-project —includingcapital, budget-setting andreports ofinternalcontrols:financial effectiveness GNL boardtakes responsibility forthe the GMGboardwhereappropriate.The onbehalfof andcapitalspendprojects budgets proposed bytheGNLboardandtoauthorise andfinancedirector.group chiefexecutive and independentchairmanofGMG,plusthe of thegroup,onewhomisnon-executive To help themconsiderthewidestrange of Its remitistooverseestrategic direction Pensions ‘The trustees have made a specialist ethical fund available to members’

Last year’s social and ethical report , which was distributed to all GNL employees, the Scott Trust, suppliers who were surveyed, community partners, key players in the CSR industry, and domestic and international media companies with individual departments to produce appro- The management of GNL’s pension funds same time, L&G says it engages with priate targets and measurements to ensure that has taken on an ethical dimension this year management from hundreds of companies areas of poor performance are confronted. to bring it more in line with our core values a year and votes at annual general meet- Once these have been agreed and approved by and editorial stance. ings, but does not publicise these activities. the relevant departmental director, they will be After requests for an ethical fund at an A number of other improvements were owned by that department and appear in the annual open members’ meeting in Decem- made to the G&MEN Lifestyle Plan, which report. Before it is published, the social, envi- ber 2003, the trustees agreed to offer Legal is a money purchase arrangement, ronmental and ethical audit, including a sum- & General’s Ethical Global Equity Index approved by the Inland Revenue and is mary list of all targets, is signed off by the chief fund as an option to members in September contracted-in to the state scheme. executive, Carolyn McCall, and the Guardian 2004. These included improved company editor, Alan Rusbridger. The fund will be open to members of the contributions costing an extra £1.4m a In the year after the publication of the report, G&MEN Lifestyle Plan, which covers staff at year, a simplified contribution structure, the social and community affairs team moni- GNL, the radio division and some of the and a new category of membership tors progress by liaising with individual depart- regional papers, as well as staff in GMG’s designed to help employees make a start ments and, where necessary, facilitate and two other Lifestyle Plans which cover the with their pension savings when they advise on how best to achieve objectives. group’s other businesses. cannot afford to pay into it. Once the report is complete, Richard Evans, The statement of investment principles Four new stand-alone funds were also director of the independent assurance provider determined by the pension trustees has been made available to members: UK Equity ethics etc … , audits the report using the Institute reviewed to reflect the shift in focus: “The Fund; Overseas Equity Fund; government of Social and Ethical AccountAbility’s framework trustees take a positive stance with regard to stocks; Fund and Corporate Bond Fund. and the AA1000 assurance standard (see page social, environmental or ethical issues. The All permanent employees are eligible to 56 for the auditor’s statement). plan’s main assets are invested in pooled join the Lifestyle Plan and are automati- After publication, the report is sent out to all index funds and, as such, the trustees accept cally enrolled in the scheme from their first GNL employees, the Scott Trust, suppliers who that the assets are subject to the investment day of employment. were surveyed, community partners, key play- manager’s own policy on socially responsible The standard contribution rate for both ers in the CSR industry, and domestic and investment and corporate governance. members and the company is 5% of pay for international media companies. In 2003 Ian “The trustees have reviewed the invest- people aged up to 40. Beyond 40, the com- Mayes, the Guardian readers’ editor, dedicated ment manager’s policies and are satisfied pany contributes more, with the amounts an Open Door column to the audit and directed this currently corresponds with their rising in steps of 1%, every five years, up to readers to the Living our values section on responsibilities to the beneficiaries. The 10% for people aged 60-65. Guardian Unlimited, where they could down- trustees will keep under review the Members may also pay up to 10% in load the document or request a hard copy. All availability of suitable funds in the light of additional voluntary contributions. Any new starters at the company also receive a copy possible demand from members. The AVCs made receive a 50% top-up from the of the report. trustees have made a specialist ‘ethical’ fund company. Regular progress updates and new CSR available to members within the current Members may choose to pay a reduced initiatives at GNL are posted on the internal fund range.” (half) standard contribution of 2.5% of intranet for staff, and there are poster cam- The existing Lifestyle Plan funds continue pay, in which case the company paigns to raise awareness. Updates also appear to be invested in L&G’s tracker funds. These contributions also halve. in summary form in the GMG employee report involve only a mathematical selection Members choosing not to contribute at and the group’s annual report and accounts. criteria and exclude ethical concerns. At the Living our values 53 Targets 2003

each department will be asked to consider ways GNL is currently testing remanufactured Readers in which their working areas can be improved. 29toner cartridges for its printers with a view To overhaul the website to make it HTML 4.01 See previous target. to switching suppliers. 1compliant and adhering to the world wide web ∂∑∑∑∑ Remanufactured toners are used on all mono printers. consortium's (W3C) accessibility guidelines. This When colour ones become available we will switch to Where they do not already exist, regular will start in 2004. Meanwhile, a range of quick them after a period of testing. departmental meetings will be established. fixes are being investigated. 16 ∂∂∂∂∂ The task of complying with W3C guidelines began in All departments now have regular meetings. ∂∂∂∂∂ Investigate options for purchasing February 2004 and is ongoing. See 2004 target 2. recycled office paper and stationery. Directors and senior managers will give 30 ∂∂∂∑∑ All offices now use 100% recycled paper with the regular presentations about their areas of To review the inclusion of chatline ads in the 17 exception of printed stationery and “special" high- the business. Guide and OTV. grade paper. 2 Happening in some areas but a more proactive All chatline ads were removed from the Guide & OTV in ∂∂∂∂∂ December 2003. approach is needed, see 2004 target 21. ∂∂∑∑∑ Reduce the number of fax machines ∂∂∂∂∂ appropriate to need and investigate Ensure strategic information from the 31 electronic fax software as an alternative. heads of department briefings is cascaded Employees 18 Number of fax machines is reducing. When they come to everyone. A “total rewards” strategy will be developed. up for renewal, their usefulness is reviewed, see 2004 Process in place; monitoring in the coming year. 3Completed. For next phase see 2004 target 4. target 35. ∂∂∂∂∂ ∂∂∂∂∂ ∂∂∂∑∑ The range of social activities will be As part of this exercise a pay policy will be Reduce paper usage by setting printers increased, with everyone encouraged to 4developed, giving clear guidelines on how pay 19 and photocopiers to double-sided printing. put forward suggestions for new activities 32 decisions should be made and communicated. No progress made due to other big IT projects push- through the Spike intranet. These guidelines will be available to all staff. ing this off the agenda, see 2004 target 36. Range has been increased but suggestions have not Pay policy formulated but still needs to be communi- ∑∑∑∑∑ been invited, see 2004 target 23. cated, see 2004 target 4. Reduce magazine and paper subscriptions. ∂∂∂∂∑ ∂∂∂∂∑ 3318% decrease in subscriptions. Monitoring to Regular, consistent appraisals to be introduced. Environment continue. 5An audit across the business was done and has ∂∂∂∂∑ shown that many departments already carry out Produce an environmental strategy. 20 Policy has been produced and is being Reduce number of Guardian/Observer regular appraisals, see 2004 target 6. supplements delivered to offices. ∂∂∂∑∑ reviewed, see 2004 target 26. 34 ∂∂∂∂∑ 10% reduction in number of incoming papers. Introduce a number of measures to help and Apply to the Carbon Trust for a Ongoing, see 2004 target 37. 6encourage staff to develop their careers. ∂∂∂∑∑ Target delayed due to HR department reorganisation, 21consultant to audit our offices and offer recommendations for cutting energy use. Further investigation into reducing the use see 2004 target 7. of non-recyclable products such as poly- ∑∑∑∑∑ Completed. Results have fed into our environmental 35 strategy and targets for next year. styrene takeaway food containers and cups. Managers will be encouraged to give regular ∂∂∂∂∂ No suitable products yet found but the investigation feedback to staff and, if necessary, will be 7 Procurement department is investigating into alternatives is ongoing, see 2004 target 38. trained how to do this. ∂∂∑∑∑ Training on giving feedback is now included in 22switching to renewable energy as various fossil fuel contracts come up for renewal. Promote cycle use. Disseminate cycle management coaching courses, see 2004 target 8. route information, cycle loan (alternative to ∂∂∑∑∑ First renewable contract now in place with a proposal 36 to be put to the board for switching all supplies, see season ticket), changing facilities/lockers, Diversity: phase two to concentrate on 2004 target 30. affiliation and liaison with local bike groups and 8analysing the key findings, developing depart- ∂∂∂∂∂ council officers. mental action plans, monitoring and taking action A new section has been set up on the intranet with and benchmarking as well as the appointment of A number of items of plant are reaching the end of their lifecycle, thus presenting an information for the bicycle user group, as well as a an equality and diversity project manager. RREAS 23 permanent noticeboard display highlighting London- to run diversity awareness workshops. opportunity for a replacement programme to reflect high environmental standards. wide cycle routes. New starters also receive Completed. For next phase see 2004 targets 9-12. information about cycling to work. ∂∂∂∂∂ An external consultant is working at GNL to review what equipment should be replaced and to define ∂∂∂∑∑ The people department is developing guide- specifications, see 2004 target 32. 9lines to assist managers in implementing the ∂∂∂∂∑ Suppliers work/life balance policy fairly and consistently. The procurement department to incorpo- Review timing settings on urinal system Completed. For next phase see 2004 targets 13-14. rate environmental considerations more from 24 hours currently set, to relate to 37 ∂∂∂∂∂ 24 seriously into their supplier strategy. departmental office hours. Supplier appraisal before contract award now A more proactive approach to health and Reduced to three times every 24 hours, resulting in includes specific sections regarding social, ethical 10safety, especially RSI, and encourage 19% overall reduction in water consumption. and environmental performance, see 2004 target 45. everyone to take regular screen breaks. ∂∂∂∂∂ Wellbeing section on company intranet and screen ∂∂∂∂∂ Run a campaign to encourage staff to breaks encouraged by subsidised staff activities To exclusively supply Fairtrade tea and change their behaviour regarding paper programme. 25 coffee to departments. Also look at usage, paper reuse and recycling. 38 ∂∂∂∂∑ Fairtrade alternatives for the restaurant where New recycling programme promoted through a poster they do not already exist. Design and implementation of an audit/ campaign and on Spike, see 2004 target 29. Achieved, with ongoing research into other Fairtrade 11monitoring system for all health and safety ∂∂∂∑∑ initiatives. and organic options, see 2004 target 46. Target delayed due to health and safety director Devise a comprehensive recycling and ∂∂∂∂∂ reuse strategy to reduce the amount of leaving company, see 2004 target 17. 26 Meet internal 10-day target time on RCS unnecessary waste to landfill. ∑∑∑∑∑ contributor payments. Recycling strategy and implementation now under 39 Improvement on picture payment times, which are still In the long-term new and refurbished way, see 2004 target 33. way above the 10-day target but little movement on 12accommodation will become available. ∂∂∂∂∂ Decision made to partly refurbish headquarters, see payment for text contributors, see 2004 target 49. 2004 target 18. Plastic cups for water dispensers: pilot the ∂∑∑∑∑ use of a reusable alternative in a few ∂∂∂∑∑ 27 Meet 30-day supplier payment time on Oracle. departments with a view to rolling out the Increase from 37 to 44 days for average supplier Complete replacement of all chairs in 2003. scheme company-wide. 40 payment time, see 2004 targets 48 & 50. 1385% of chairs have been replaced, see 2004 A reusable alternative has not been piloted but plastic ∑∑∑∑∑ target 19 cups can now be recycled ∂∂∂∂∑ ∂∂∑∑∑ Facilities management planning introduction of consolidated monthly Guidelines for acceptable working IT to ensure special disposal of all 41 invoicing for different departments using same 14conditions will be introduced. computer kit, which falls below the Tools 28 suppliers. Also looking to transfer to online Plans have been delayed to tie in with refurbishment for Schools minimum specifications. purchasing where appropriate. and department moves, see 2004 target 20. We are now using a certificated service for disposal of Range of key suppliers now operate consolidated ∑∑∑∑∑ obsolete IT equipment in compliance with national invoicing but still work to be done, see 2004 target 51. Each director is committed to improving and international legislation. ∂∂∂∑∑ 15the working environment. In the meantime, ∂∂∂∂∂ 54 Living our values clearing upandimproving working areas. within eachdepartmenttotake responsibilityfor intranet, andnominateworking environment marshals 20 chair replacement. 19 accommodation (2008). 18 17 to staffthrough thescheme. communicate therangeofsupportservicesavailable 16 project (ongoing). 15 14 13 commitments toemploying peoplewithdisabilities. 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 Employees renewable energy. arrangement, suchasplantingtreesorinvesting in 3 2 1 Readers See guardian.co.uk/socialauditfor moredetails been allocatedtoindividualswithinthecompany. timescales have beenspecified.Alltargetshave targets over thenext financialyear unlesslonger A commitmenthasbeenmadetoaddressall Targets 2004 areas ofweakness intheirmanagementstyle. develop theircareers withinGNL. inadequate (April2006). (timescale tobedecided). minimum standardsinthefuture. accessibility policiesandberequiredtoadhere Third-party suppliers willalsobemadeaware ofour wide web consortium'saccessibilityguidelines. develop bestpractice. monitoring survey from 66%to75%. Raise theresponserateofequalopportunity training enablingindividualstofocus onspecific Introduce amodularapproach tomanagement for thecompany intranettoencouragestaff New sectiononcareerdevelopment tobedevised all departmentswherethecurrentsystemis Regular consistentappraisalswillbeintroduced in flexible approach inhow we offer staffbenefits Explore thefeasibility ofmoving towards amore results tostaff. Refine thesalaryreview process andcommunicate needs ofallourreaders andadheretotheworld The website redesignwilltake intoaccountthe to improve awareness ofeditorialstandardsand Host aseriesofdiscussiongroups for editorialstaff will includeavoluntarycarbon-offset All futureflightoffers advertised inourpublications acceptable working conditionsonthecompany Introduce andcommunicateguidelinesfor furniture requirements,includingcompletionof Full listofrecommendationstobemadefor new longer termplanstomove toone-site Partial refurbishmentofourmainbuildingwith system for allhealthandsafety initiatives. Design andimplementanaudit/monitoring and runaseriesofbriefingsessionsto Launch theemployee assistanceprogramme issues areconsideredinnew accommodation Ensure thathealthsafety andwellbeing home computinginitiative upandrunning. Introduce thehomeworking policy and getthe GNL. Audit flexible working practicesacross people" standardtodemonstratearangeof Apply for theTwo Ticks “Positive aboutdisabled workshop (December2005). 50% ofallstafftoattendthediversity awareness benchmarking targets. Board toconsideraseriesofdiversity 30 and how individualemployees cancontribute. achieve meaningfully(eg,intermsofCO 29 agreed by theenvironment steeringgroup. 28 environment policy. 27 26 Environment 25 24 23 22 departments whichwould benefitfrom this. expertise andknowledge, andidentifyother 21 Develop thesitetobemoreinclusiveofManchesterstaff. posters, competitionsandmoreinteractivity. Increase awareness ofSpike through emails, GMG boards. Submit agreenenergyproposal totheGNLand GNL's environmental initiatives, whatthiswill Develop astaffawareness campaigntopublicise coordinate theimplementationofactionplans Establish anetwork oflocalactiviststo group tooversee implementationofthe Introduce awiderGNLenvironment steering board andcommunicatedtostaff. Environmental policy tobeapproved by the interviews. Analyse thefindingsfrom exit Network manager. Second amemberofstafftowork asInnovation activities. Invite furtherideasthrough theintranetfor staff one areaofthebusinesstoanothershare Monitor presentationsthatarecurrentlygiven by 2 reductions),

FRANK BARON 31 and furtherimprove supplierpayment efficiency. wide purchasing,toreducevolume ofpaperinvoices 51 and reportonanaverage lengthofpayment time. 50 payment targetof10days. from 10toeightdays andmove towards theoverall Aim toreducetheaverage processing timeinLondon 49 to meetthe30-day payment target. though improved technologiesandorganisation.Aim Explore ways ofmakingtheprocess moreefficient payments andascertainwheretheproblems are. 48 Offers service. 47 options thatexist. awareness, promoting theFairtrade andorganic feasible. Encouragerestaurantstafftoraise 46 45 Suppliers readers ormentors. 44 Community practices (April2006). 43 42 41 40 improvements. with oursuppliers. Agreeaframework for 39 38 further reduceincomingGuardians. putting Guardiandispensers intosatellitebuildingsto 37 36 number offax machinesappropriate toneed(ongoing). 35 rather thangoingtolandfill(ongoing). 34 33 and refurbishment. 32 buildings. Aim toreduceenergyuseinour monthly invoicing would beeffective for company- Continue toidentifyareaswhereconsolidated the dateinvoice isreceived tothedatepaid Develop areporttoestablish thetimetaken from improve theefficiency ofpayment processing. RCS teamtowork witheditorialmanagers to procure-to-pay process for non-contributor Perform analysisofvarious timingsofwhole focus onorganicandFairtrade products where Review cateringandsources ofproducts and social, environmental andethicalvalues. Raise awareness withexisting suppliers ofour changed duringtheirtimespentwithvolunteer Monitor how students’self-perceptionshave supply ournewsprint ondeveloping sustainable PPML tostartadialoguewithpapermillsthat data onsustainablepaperpurchasing. Our paperpurchaser, PPML,willgatherreliable Newspaper Publishers' Association(April2005) Raise theissueofuncertificatedwood withthe environmental standards. Ensure thatthenew presseswe buyreflecthigh csrnetwork's auditofourmagazineprintsites Discuss therecommendationsfrom non-recyclable food anddrinkpackaging. Investigate furtherways toreducetheuseof incoming Observer issuesby 15%,aswell as Install dispensers inallbuildingstoreduce default double-sidedprinting. Reduce paperusageby settingprinters to alternative to conventional faxes, andreduce Investigate electronic fax software asan waste tobereusedordisposedofappropriately, Investigate optionsfor different typesofGNL GNL. Roll outrecycling programme across consultant onplantandmachineryreplacement Implement recommendationsofexternal back eachmonthonallaspectsoftheReader Recruit ateamofmystery shoppers toreport Living ourvalues 55 2003-04 Auditor’s statement

This is the second social, ethical and environ- summary information on their achievement or reports but have no other business or personal mental audit Guardian Newspapers Ltd has otherwise. I believe this report not only relationship with GNL, the Scott Trust or the published. In my auditor’s statement last year, I complies with the technical criteria of stake- Guardian Media Group plc or its directors and said: “I think this first report is remarkably holder accountability but also demonstrates the managers. Furthermore, I have no business or thorough and honest. Where problems or gaps real strength of the relationship of Guardian consultancy relationships with any of the com- in performance have been identified managers Newspapers Ltd with its readers, its commu- pany’s stakeholders. Should any potential con- have simply got on with the job of putting nity, its own employees and its owners, The flict of interest arise from future relationships things right, quickly and without equivocation Scott Trust and Guardian Media Group. with the group or its stakeholders, details of any or bureaucratic delays … This learning process such relationship will be made public. I am a of self-awareness and action, linked to the Responsibility for the report certified practising member of the Institute of audit, has yet to spread generally through the Social and Ethical AccountAbility (ISEA). I staff, but the report, and the company’s The content of the social audit report is entirely have contributed to the development of the response to it will, I believe, play a key role in the responsibility of GNL’s directors. I have not ISEA and its AA1000 framework and assurance achieving that.” contributed any of the text or information apart standards, and also to the GRI (Global Report- Since publication, Living our values has from this statement, nor have I designed or ing Initiative) 2002 guidelines on sustainability generated not only interest among GNL commissioned the information and reporting. GNL has paid ethics etc … £ 11,000 employees but also significant changes in management control systems upon which the in fees for the audit of this report. behaviour. Three examples, described in the content of the report is based. current report, are: observable evidence of My responsibility, as auditor, is primarily to Assurance standard improvements in environmental awareness in GNL’s stakeholders — its readers, employees, the main offices; evidence that editorial staff suppliers, the community, and its owners. My In assessing the GNL social audit I have used are more acutely aware of their responsibility to task is to assess and report on the reliability, the Institute of Social and Ethical their key stakeholders, the readers, to write completeness and balance of the company’s AccountAbility’s AA1000 Assurance Standard, accurately and to accept responsibility when report and the extent to which the information and the GRI 2002 guidelines on the credibility they get it wrong; and management’s initiation provided is material to stakeholders’ interests of reports and assurance processes. The of “innovation labs” to bring employees across and to which the company understands and AA1000 assurance standard sets three princi- the company together to work on new ideas and responds to their concerns and interests. The pal tests for social and sustainability reports: practical responses to the organisation’s values. directors have agreed to publish my auditor’s Materiality: is the information relevant to Companies have a duty of accountability for statement in full. •stakeholders’ concerns and interests and will it their actions to all their stakeholders, not just help them make informed judgements about those who provide financial capital. Relatively Independence and impartiality the company’s performance? few have accepted that challenge by regularly Completeness: does the information provide publishing reports on their economic, environ- I am not aware of any relationship with the •sufficient evidence that the company under- mental and social performance. However, the Scott Trust, Guardian Media Group or Guardian stands all its significant social, economic and real challenge is not just to publish a prescribed Newspapers Ltd that could affect my ability to environmental impacts? set of data and benchmarks but to demonstrate act impartially in auditing this report. ethics etc Responsiveness: does the report how the company responds to the interests and … is an independent social accounting consul- •demonstrate the company’s responses and concerns of its stakeholders. tancy and assurance provider. During the past commitment to improving its performance? I welcome GNL’s introduction of a quick- year I have been invited to act as auditor for all reference table of relevant targets and GMG divisions’ and companies’ social audit Scope and basis of my opinion 56 Living our values ‘Although new to accountability Children learn how produce a newspaper in the My work has covered the whole of Guardian visitor and archive centre, the Newsroom Newspapers Ltd, which produces the reporting, Guardian Guardian, Guardian Weekly, the Guardian Newspapers Limited is not only satisfied that responsibility has been defined international edition, GuardianUnlimited and providing a beacon for British for achieving these goals and the measures the Observer. I have evaluated the quality and proposed are sufficiently demanding. scope of information in the report against the media companies but setting three criteria listed above; assessed areas where standards in disclosure for the Commercial issues and editorial there is a risk of misrepresentation or under- whole corporate sector’ reporting; reviewed the evidence that supports responsibility to readers claims made in the report; interviewed man- Richard Evans The initial chapters of this report, covering the agers and investigated the effectiveness of man- social auditor, ethics etc … commercial realities for GNL in the past year, agement systems that monitor performance the relationship with the Scott Trust and, above and generate responses. I have also tested the all, the application and continuing development accuracy and the balance with which measure- of journalistic standards and response to read- ments of performance and the views of stake- ers are very frank and revealing. They go far holders are recorded and reported. beyond the more formulaic “vision statements” found in many corporate social responsibility Opinion reports in disclosing both the aspirations and the self-criticisms of the organisation. Considerable progress has been made in The report quotes Bob Phillis’s address to the developing systems to monitor performance recently launched Media CSR Forum: “Media and, where data is limited, in assessing risks companies have much in common with other and the need for action. In my opinion the sectors in the area of CSR. At the same time the company’s report satisfies the principal tests of media also occupies a unique position in materiality, completeness and responsiveness supporting the democratic process by making and gives an honest, reliable and balanced view information, knowledge and a range of opin- of the company’s performance. ions openly available and ensuring that public I am also satisfied that the way the company and private institutions are accountable for has reported its responses to events in the past their behaviour. This is social responsibility in year and to competition in the news media its highest form and should also be recognised.” industry is consistent with its values of The chapter on feedback demonstrates the “honesty, integrity, courage, fairness and a importance of this view and the interest GNL’s sense of duty to its readers and the community”. initiative has generated among newspaper I have reviewed performance against the editors and schools of journalism. targets set in last year’s report and believe the achievement scores give a fair reflection of Employees progress made. I have also reviewed the scope of the targets set for the current year. Given the The last report, and its employee opinion extent and radical nature of current and survey, revealed a number of areas where planned changes within the business I am employees identified weaknesses in people Living our values 57 GRAHAM TURNER

A view over Clerkenwell, home to the Guardian management. As I commented in my auditor’s tion are big issues for the industry as a whole, and the Observer, at dusk statement, managers initiated responses to so GNL’s commitment to work with its paper criticisms of the lack of transparency in the suppliers to ensure its own use is consistent reward system and the inconsistency of with its sustainability policy is welcome, as is its While GNL’s payments to suppliers average a feedback and appraisal before the report was commitment to work with the Newspaper shorter time than UK industry in general, they even published. Although the company has not Publishers Association on this issue. are longer than the targets set and have yet reached the stage when all its commitments Raising staff awareness about environmental deteriorated during the past year. Further work in last year’s report can be implemented, I am issues, the environment innovation lab, envi- is needed internally and with GMG to improve satisfied, on the basis of my interviews with ronment “marshals” and progress on establish- the administration of supplier payments. senior staff and review of working documents ing an environmental policy and steering group and board reports, that changes will happen in for office operations are beginning to show Financial disclosures most areas within the next year. improvements in environmental performance. The company has decided to survey its The strategy for switching to green energy I have checked the financial data in the report employees every two years. This means that a supplies is significant as well as the reduction against the Guardian Media Group plc annual new survey will be carried out early next year already achieved in water consumption. report and accounts 2004, audited by Price- and the results published in GNL’s next social I accept that some environmental issues cannot waterhouseCoopers LLP. I welcome the disclo- audit report. It is especially important, in a be addressed radically until operations are sure of more detailed information about the period of rapid change and development in the moved to new or refurbished premises. financial relationship between GNL and GMG business, that the employees are consulted During the year, GNL has surveyed readers, in both reports and the support for corporate about the performance and values of the public regulators and environmental cam- social responsibility and accountability in the company and the changing circumstances. The paigning organisations about the influence of GMG report and its chairman’s statement. process for the survey and content of question- GNL’s environmental coverage in its media. Charitable giving and naires will need to be reviewed with employees The views expressed have provided valuable before the new survey takes place. independent testimony to the importance of community involvement the role the Guardian and the Observer play in I commend to readers the chapter on commu- Environmental responsibility influencing and informing the public and a nity. Both the Christmas charity appeal and the wide variety of agencies about environmental ongoing community programme grow seam- The most significant resource allocation after issues, concerns, government policies, business lessly out of the fundamental values of the employment costs is paper and print purchas- behaviour and current scientific research. organisation and its journalistic priorities. ing. GNL commissioned an independent report At the level of personal and domestic respon- Efforts to develop innovative ways of evaluating on the environmental impacts of its print oper- sibility, Leo Hickman has reported on his the impact of local involvement in the commu- ations and a review of paper and pulp sourcing. experiment in ethical living, documented in nity around GNL’s main offices in Clerkenwell, The former will be used as a basis for more G2, and the responses his articles generated London, are addressing the benefits people in detailed reporting on existing magazine print- from readers and users of his Guardian Unlim- the community identify rather than ing facilities and to inform specifications for the ited weblog. This innovative approach is a good emphasising the inputs made by the company. new newsprint presses GNL will have to order. example of the organisation engaging in the This report has disclosed all the material messy business of turning ideals and values into Influence information resulting from the paper sourcing practical day-to-day reality. investigations so far. Recycling and the sustain- Although new to accountability reporting, able sourcing of virgin pulp for paper produc- Supplier payments Guardian Newspapers Limited is not only pro- 58 Living our values Awards GNL Association awards, November 2003. • Wendy Berliner won 2003 Edexcel • James Meikle was named Consumer Outstanding Educational Journalism Award. • GNL was named Environmental Newspaper Company of the Year at the Newspaper News Journalist of the Year in the Norwich • Gary Younge was named Best Print Awards 2004. Union Healthcare Medical Journalism. Newspaper Journalist at the Ethnic • Sarah Boseley named Medical Journalist Multicultural Media Awards (Emma) June Guardian of the Year by the British Medical Association. 2003. • Felicity Lawrence was awarded the Derek • Jobs and Money named Best National • Jobs and Money voted Best Personal Cooper Campaigning and Investigative Newspaper Personal Finance Section and Finance Section in any national newspaper, Journalist Prize by the Guild of Food Writers, Jill Treanor named Business Journalist of the Headline Money Awards, May 2003. May 2004. Year at the Association of British Insurer’s Rupert Jones was also named Mortgage Writer of the Year. • The Guardian was named Newspaper of Financial Media Awards, October 2003. the Year at the Picture Editors’ Awards, May • Michael White, Print Journalist of the Year, • Anne Karpf won a CRE Race in the Media 2004. Dan Chung and Roger Bamber won by MPs and Peers in the House Magazine/BBC Award for a Guardian Weekend article, which Photographer of the Year and Business and Parliamentary Awards, June 2003 . investigated the press reaction towards Industry Photographer of the Year at the same asylum seekers arriving in Britain, April 2003. awards. • Sarah Boseley won the Press Award in the One World Media Awards for the Saving Grace • Richard Norton-Taylor and Stuart Millar, • Chris McGreal has been named the winner supplement. joint winners of 2003 Winston Awards, of the Martha Gellhorn Award, May 2004. presented by civil rights group, Privacy International, March 2003. • Paul Murphy won the Harold Wincott Award for Financial Journalism, May 2004. Major conferences organised by GNL Observer • James Astill was awarded the Gaby Rado • John Carlin, Food and Drink Writer of the Memorial Award for his coverage of Rwanda’s March 2004 Year, British Press Awards 2004. involvement in the Democratic Republic of Managing New Realities — integrating the Congo. • Oliver Morgan was named BCC Business care landscape across health, housing and Journalist of the Year, March 2004. • The Foreign Film season, sponsored by social care • Chris Riddell was named Caricaturist of the Teacher Training Agency and negotiated by Business & Society: corporate responsibility the Year at the Cartoon Art Trust Awards, Carlton Screen Advertising and Guardian in a material world December 2003. Newspapers, won the Hollis First Time Spon- January 2004 sor Award (March 2004). Oxford Media Convention: competition, • The Observer’s Crime Uncovered • The Guardian won the Gold award in Best regulation and renewal supplement won the Magazine of the Year and Press Advertising Campaign (colour) for Afro Public services summit the Best Designed Newspaper Supplement of Brush (ad for Space handbook) at the December 2003 the Year at the Magazine Design Awards 2003. Campaign Press Advertising Awards 2004. Outcomes into practice in adult social care • The Observer won the Best Print Award in • Hugo Young, Posthumous Award Gold October 2003 the positive media category of the 2003 Award, British Press Awards, 2004. Diversity in Britain: responding to change Windrush achievement prizes for a series of Charity investment: planning for financial articles on race, asylum and immigration. • James Meek, Foreign Reporter of the Year, prosperity — what does the future hold for British Press Awards, 2004. • Andrew Pitts, editor of Money Observer, the voluntary sector? won the award for Best Financial Consumer • Tom Jenkins, Sports Photographer of the April 2003 Journalist at the AITC (Association of Year, British Press Awards, 2004. Urban regeneration Investment Trust Companies) Journalist • Nick Davies won the Europe Prize: Awards. Journalism for a Changing World, for his article Other key events • The circulation team won The ACE Award How Britain lost the war against drugs: the which we sponsored for the most effective promotional campaign problems of prohibition, February 2004. by a national newspaper, for the work they do • The Guardian’s former political columnist February 2004 on the Observer monthly magazines, in Hugo Young, was given posthumous NCVO annual conference particular, Observer Food Monthly, recognition with the Gerald Barry lifetime January 2004 April 2003. Achievements Award at the What the Papers Growing pains: can Britain’s kids escape a Say awards, December 2003. fat future? Guardian Unlimited • Audrey Gillan, Foreign Correspondent of November 2003 • Guardian Unlimited won two bronze the Year, What the Papers Say awards, Conference on asylum seekers medals for its infographics portfolios at the December 2003. Learning disability today 2004 Malofiej Awards, for interactives includ- Charities Aid Foundation ing Saddam Hussein captured, the Tour de • David Aaronovitch, who writes for both the Children: do they count? Children’s services France 2003, and the spread of Sars. Guardian and the Observer, was voted conference Columnist of the Year, What the Papers Say • Emily Bell, editor in chief of Guardian October 2003 awards, December 2003. Unlimited, won the Consumer Editor of the Charity Awards Year Award of the UK Association of Online • The Guardian won four awards — best National Teaching Awards Publishers; GU Also won the Online Sales front page, best inside pages, best August 2003 Team Award, October 2003. supplements, and best photography — at Al-Qaida debate • Guardian Unlimited won the Best Daily the fifth European Newspaper Awards, June 2003 December 2003. Newspaper on the World Wide Web, for the VSO Only Connect exhibition fourth year running at the 2003 Newspaper • Martin Rowson, Political Cartoonist of the Media Guardian forum on war coverage Awards, April 2003. Year, awarded by the Cartoon Arts Trust. May 2003 • Guardian.co.uk was named as the UK's • Polly Toynbee won the Political Journalist Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards number one News and Media (print) site in Q1 of the Year prize in the annual Political Studies April 2003 of 2003 by Hitwise. Living our values 59