Guardian.co.uk

Infobox Website
name = guardian.co.uk



caption = Frontpage, 19 February 2008.
url = [http://www.guardian.co.uk/ guardian.co.uk]
commercial = Yes
type = Online Newspaper
language = English
registration =
owner = Guardian Media Group
author = "The Guardian"
launch date = 1999
current status = Active
revenue =

"guardian.co.uk", formerly known as "Guardian Unlimited", is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers "The Guardian" and "The Observer", as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service. It is one of the world's leading online newspapers, becoming the first UK newspaper to attract more than 20 million unique users in a month (June 2008). [cite web|url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/24/abcs.digitalmedia|title= ABCe: Guardian.co.uk breaks 20m user barrier|accessdate= 2008-07-24|date= 2008-07-24|publisher= guardian.co.uk|author=Jemima Kiss] cite web
url= http://www.abce.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=abce/abcedata&o=&c=&menuid=abce_database|search&breadcrumbonly=n&type=searchdo&search_id=guardian+unlimited|W
title= All ABCe certificates for Guardian Unlimited since 1999|accessdate= 2008-01-30|publisher= Electronic Media Audits Limited (ABCe)] On 7 July 2005, following the London bombings, 1.3 million unique users visited the site and a total of 7.8 million pages were viewed, a record for "guardian.co.uk".cite web
url= http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,1524130,00.html
title= Record numbers visit Guardian Unlimited|accessdate= 2008-01-30|date= 2005-07-08|work= MediaGuardian|quote= Total unique users: 15,955,312]

The site is made up of a core news site, plus a network of niche websites covering subjects including media, sport, education and the public sector. "guardian.co.uk" is notable for its engagement with readers, including long-running talkboards and, more recently, a network of weblogs. Its seven blogs were joined on March 14, 2006 by a new comment site, Comment is free, named after the famous quote by "The Guardian" editor, C. P. Scott. Both the talkboards and blogs accept comments without pre-moderation, although all now require registration for comments.

Most of the site can be viewed for free and without registration, though some services such as "Guardian Talk" require users to register.

Ownership

"guardian.co.uk" is part of the Guardian Media Group of newspapers, radio stations, and new media including "The Guardian" daily newspaper, "The Observer" Sunday newspaper, and the "Manchester Evening News". All the aforementioned are owned by The Scott Trust, a charitable foundation which aims to ensure the newspaper's editorial independence in perpetuity, maintaining its financial health to ensure it does not become vulnerable to takeover by for-profit media groups, and the serious compromise of editorial independence that this often brings.

History

"guardian.co.uk" was launched in 1999, born of the Guardian New Media Lab. Its popularity soared after the September 11th attack in the United States, largely thanks to the diverse range of viewpoints published in the "Guardian" newspaper. The website won the Best Newspaper category in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Webby Awards, beating the "New York Times", the "Washington Post", the "Wall Street Journal" and "Variety". [http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php#webby_entry_newspaper] .

In 2006 "guardian.co.uk" reported its first profitable year, with income coming mostly from recruitment and display advertising.cite web
url= http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=33685
title= Guardian Unlimited in the black for first time|accessdate= 2008-01-30|date= 2006-03-31|work= Press Gazette|quote= The Guardian's website, guardian.co.uk, made a profit of £1m this year]

In May 2007, "guardian.co.uk" begun an 18-month programme of redesigning and adding features to the entire website, starting with the front page.cite web
url= http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2007/05/10/guardian_unlimited_the_new_look_explained.html
title= Guardian Unlimited - the new look explained|accessdate= 2008-01-30|date= 2007-05-10|work= guardian.co.uk news blog|quote= …an 18-month programme to redesign and rebuild every part of GU.]

Guardian Talk

The network's forum, "Guardian Talk", is the one of the largest news and politics discussion sites in Europe.Fact|date=January 2008 Because of this, and "The Guardian"’s reputation for left-wing political bias, it receives a lot of attention from right-wing American posters.Fact|date=January 2008 As a result, its discussion topics (divided into folders such as 'International', 'Media', 'UK News', and off-topic folder 'The Haven') are a diverse and eclectic mix of British, European and American politics, media-related topics, and eccentric British banter + Wols .Fact|date=January 2008 There is a strong focus on controversial international issues, and in particular there is a lot of erudite, well-informed and civilised debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A converse point of view is that the Israel-Palestine debates are a "ment magnet" filled to the brim with bile and hatred on both sides.Fact|date=January 2008

Guardian America

"Guardian America" is an American version of the British news website "guardian.co.uk".

A lot of the content on "Guardian America" is taken from "guardian.co.uk" and "The Guardian", although some content is produced specifically for "Guardian America".

ee also

* "The Fiver"

References

External links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/ guardian.co.uk]
* [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/ guardian.co.uk blogs]
* [http://talk.guardian.co.uk Guardian Talk]