Alan Rusbridger

www.theguardian.co.uk

Alan Charles Rusbridger was born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1953.In 1973, after attending public school in Surrey, he studied at Magdalene College in Cambridge graduating with an MA in English. Starting out as a reporter with the Cambridge Evening News, Rusbridger moved to the Manchester Guardian in 1979 where he wrote a gossip column.

Following time as a feature writer and a stint at The Observer as a television critic, he moved to America (1986), for a year, to report for The London Daily News (now defunct). Returning to the UK, in 1987, Rusbridger spent four years as features editor with The Guardian’s G2 daily supplement. In 1993 he became deputy editor at The Guardian and, in 1995, was elevated to the role of editor, where he remains to this day.

Piers Morgan interviewing Rusbridger, in The Independent newspaper (2nd April 2007), says that: “…I am very fond of Rusbridger and his paper. The Guardian plays an important role in our society, and acts as an effective foil to right-wing papers such as The Daily Mail.”

Morgan says editing The Guardian is a “moral maze.” However Rusbridger defends his newspaper: “The Guardian is a liberal, progressive, intelligent, internationalist paper which operates to certain ethical standards.”

In Morgan’s interview, The Guardian editor admits that he has annual earnings of roughly half a million pounds. The author of three books for children, Rusbridger also reveals his purchasing of a £30,000 piano, “the most extravagant thing I’ve ever bought.”

When asked, by Morgan, of his proudest moment as editor, Rusbridger replies: “Building the Guardian Unlimited website has been one of the best things I’ve been involved with. And relaunching the paper in its Berliner shape.” He also mentions the failure of the MP, Jonathan Aitken’s court case against The Guardian as a highlight.

Morgan, in the course of the interview, asks about some of The Guardian’s competitors. Rusbridger describes The Daily Mail style of journalism as: “…cruel. And sometimes a bit aggressive”. Of The Independent he says: “The emphasis on views, not news, means that the reporting is rather thin, and loses impact on the front page the more you do that.”

As well as the children’s books mentioned above, Rusbridger has also written ‘A Concise History of the Sex Manual 1886-1986”. His interests outside of journalism include music (he’s chairman of the National Youth Orchestra), painting and golf. Married for 17 years with two daughters, he shows no sign of wanting to abandon a job that has seen him rise to the top of one of the world’s leading English language newspapers.