Is the British Guardian authoritative? What kind of newspaper is it?

The Guardian is a national comprehensive daily newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1959, it is called Manchester Guardian because it is headquartered in Manchester. 1964 moved its headquarters to London, but it has printing facilities in Manchester City and London. The general public thinks that the Guardian's political views are center-left.

Before the typesetting and printing system of 1988 The Guardian was computerized, it was nicknamed "The Grauniad" by the public because of frequent typographical errors, and the newspaper even misspelled its own registration.

Revised in 2005

This newspaper has always been a completely open daily newspaper. By September 2005, it was revised to Berlin format (470×3 15 mm) and advertised as the only full-color printed daily newspaper in Britain (excluding Northern Ireland). This revision adopted a new font and layout design.

According to the statistics in August 2005, the circulation of the Guardian was 325,000.

"Welcome to the revised Guardian. Although we temporarily call it the' Berlin-style' Guardian, the name should not be very long. After all, this is not a very elegant name. " Alan ross Brij, editor-in-chief of The Guardian, announced on September 12 that The Guardian changed its style as a "big newspaper" and became smaller and more refined when it was 184 years old.

After 18 months' efforts and an investment of 80 million pounds (about 1200 million yuan), the Guardian, a mainstream British newspaper, showed its most amazing side on12-abandoning the traditional broadsheet style and not adopting the trendy tabloid format, but launching the first full-color daily newspaper in the UK with an "intermediate format".

The Guardian has a new look from the title to the tone. A mainstream newspaper with black as the main tone turned into a striking but calm dark blue.

Three major changes reshape the guardian.

Rosebridge expounded new ideas on the front page of the Guardian for three days in a row. He said: "We tried several options, from the size of the format to the origin of the format, and finally we chose Berlin. In the days not too long from now, we are trying to make the guardian return to nature and simplicity. "

The first is the change of format, from the former folio newspaper to the "middle format" with a width of 365,438+0.5 cm and a length of 47cm, which is smaller than the traditional big newspaper, but larger than the smaller newspapers such as The Times and The Independent. In addition, the registered font of The Guardian was changed to the novel The Guardian in Egyptian Style. We hope this font is more elegant than that set by David Herman 20 years ago.

Previously, the title of each section was a combination of italic GARAMOND font and Franklin Goth's Guardian, which was unified with the title of the Guardian and formed a distinctive feature through constant repetition. The font of the text uses a font called NIMROD.

Secondly, the colors become more vivid. From the previous partial color printing to full color printing, it was printed by German "Roland" high-speed printing machine. In the words of the editor of the Guardian, this newspaper is the "most vivid" newspaper in Britain.

The third is the change of supplement and sister newspaper. The Guardian's famous supplement G2 will also be printed in full color, only half the size of the main newspaper. Published from Monday to Friday, with 36 editions every day, it is more convenient for readers to read on crowded buses and subways. The Observer, the sister newspaper of The Guardian, is published every Saturday, and will be changed to "Berlin Style" in early 2006. G3 has not changed much, and it still focuses on job advertisements.

The content of the Guardian will not lose its style because of the change of style. Simon Jennings, the chief commentator of The Guardian, still writes comments in The Guardian twice a week.

A smaller space contains thousands of things.

On September 12, the front page of the new edition of The Guardian, the title background color is dark blue, which is no longer the previous background color, while the words "The Guardian" are no longer black, but white, and the number of columns is reduced from 8 to 5.

In addition, the introduction section above the header occupies one-third of the whole home page. On June 5438+02, I mainly read the contents supplemented by G2, and four pictures were pieced together. The bottom of the page is also the reading area. Including domestic news, political and legal news, international news and financial news.

In the second edition, there is also a three-column wide guide. In order to make this area more interesting, a cartoon was specially made, and a fun game was set below.

The reporter also noticed that the reading guidance function also extended to the network. The content of the online edition of The Guardian is also a two-column wide "link", which highlights the tolerance and flexible use of new technologies. This is inseparable from the idea that the Guardian pays attention to the use of new technologies such as the Internet. At present, the online edition of The Guardian is also very popular with readers.

The new Guardian tries to save more information in a smaller space. As its advertisement in the lower right corner of the home page says: "The bigger is not always the better ..."

The strongest change in half a century

On September 12, Rosebridge wrote in the front page Columnfive article: "No newspaper can stand. The newspaper in your hand is changing, and we hope you can join us in the innovation process. We have shareholders and operators, but you are our decision makers. "

On the one hand, in order to solve the troubles of modern people reading newspapers in a tight space, on the other hand, in order to cope with the fierce competition from TV, Internet and other media, the British Independent and The Times abandoned the long-standing style of big newspapers and adopted tabloid format instead. In September 2003, The Independent published two newspapers at the same time, and all of them were changed to tabloids seven months later. The Times followed closely, and in June, 2004, 165438+ 10 was also published in double edition.

1 Many years later, The Guardian also decided to change its style, but the style they adopted was "Berlin style" between big newspapers and tabloids.

Rosebridge said, "We are remaking a newspaper from beginning to end", which will be the "most radical change" of the Guardian in 50 years.

"Our content will not compromise the size of the change."

September 12 is the first day when the Guardian, an old and serious British newspaper, came out. The Morning Post reporter interviewed AlanRusbridger, the current editor-in-chief of The Guardian.

Is to catch young people.

Oriental Morning Post: First of all, congratulations on the new appearance of The Guardian today. How did readers and critics react to the new edition on the first day?

Rosebridge: Thank you. The response was very good. Many readers say they like the new Guardian. I saw on TV that some designers also expressed their preference for the new format when interviewed. But today is the first day, and it is too early to draw conclusions. Readers are usually conservative, and they often take a confrontational attitude towards change, but today's reaction seems to be a very good start.

Oriental Morning Post: Some researchers pointed out that it is a long-term trend for paid daily newspapers to move closer to tabloids from big newspapers. Because readers prefer small format newspapers, do you agree? The revision of The Guardian was said by outsiders and became popular with the revision of The Times and The Independent.

Rosebridge: I agree, at least in the British market, readers like small and portable newspapers, especially when going out or taking the subway. We decided to revise it as early as the summer of 2003, and the subsequent operation of The Times and The Independent only strengthened our determination to change.

Oriental Morning Post: Generally speaking, big newspapers are more attractive to men, middle-aged and elderly people, the highest social structure and power institutions, while women, middle-end market, young people and people with lofty ideals prefer tabloids and smaller newspapers. You said The New Guardian is aimed at a new generation of readers, so which group are you targeting?

Rosebridge: Young man. A new generation of young people grow up in pictures and colors. For them, the traditional black-and-white newspaper is too outdated and unattractive, which is also the original intention of Britain to launch the first full-color newspaper.

Sales have increased, but it is not obvious.

Oriental Morning Post: You said that although the format of the Guardian has changed, the old tradition of the Guardian to report news seriously, comprehensively and objectively and its unique and objective views on major events will not change. Can I understand that the Guardian is a big newspaper in a tabloid coat?

Rosebridge: Yes, that's right. The orientation, tone and content of our newspaper will never compromise with the change of newspaper layout. One thing I want to correct is that the Guardian is not a tabloid style, but a "Berlin style" smaller than the big newspaper and larger than the tabloid.

Oriental Morning Post: Can young readers only be attracted by beautiful appearances such as pictures when the substance and arguments remain unchanged? It is widely said that although The Guardian is not the largest newspaper in Britain, its readership is very stable. Do you think the sales of The Guardian will increase greatly with the expansion of its readership after the revision?

Rosebridge: We have been trying to keep a balance between serious news and light reporting, and our G2 Supplement is a successful example of this attempt. The supplement reports information about culture, fashion, life and education. Its rhythm and style tend to magazines. Of course, when reporting serious political issues, such as the riots in Northern Ireland, we can also attach vivid pictures to make the news more readable. As for the sales volume, I am confident that the sales volume of the revised Guardian will definitely increase. At present, I don't have an exact figure in my mind. It must be growing steadily, not very big.

observe

World newspaper reform changes the wind direction

Now, in addition to traditional newspapers and tabloids, there is also an intermediate newspaper on the newsstand. Professor Huang from the School of Journalism of Fudan University said that the revision of the "middle route" of The Guardian may lead to a new round of reform of the world newspaper industry.

The Guardian is an 84-year-old newspaper in Britain. In the late 1980s, under the leadership of David Herman, an internationally renowned design master, The Guardian sought a more modern design style that could better adapt to the advantages of new technologies. Since then, The Guardian has injected the concept of design leadership. First, it pursued visual satisfaction in the layout, and then it took the lead in launching a four-page tabloid supplement G2, which really set off a whirlwind in Britain.

Professor Huang believes that the "intermediate format" plan of the Guardian, which has been carefully prepared for a long time, has opened up a new world in the highly competitive British newspaper market. Under the attack of TV and network media, the world newspaper industry has been looking for a breakthrough in innovation. After hundreds of years of development, it is difficult to make a breakthrough in the layout of traditional newspapers. In order to realize the innovation of print media, the adjustment of layout size may be an effective breakthrough, so newspapers all over the world take the tabloid route one after another, but tabloids have many shortcomings, such as being unable to make in-depth and serious reports and accommodate richer news. The "middle layout" solves this contradiction well. It not only retains the serious style of big newspapers, but also retains the flexibility and convenience of tabloids, which can be called the breeze of "killing two birds with one stone". The Guardian made a good start at this time.

David Herman, the last supervisor of The Guardian, said: "Design plays a much bigger role in newspaper layout than just meeting people's visual and sensory requirements." For traditional newspapers that have reached the crossroads of reform, bold innovation and following the trend should be the only way for them to achieve rejuvenation.

deconstruct

How mysterious is the "Berlin style" flip?

The feature "Berlin" in the Morning Post is an interesting name. At first glance, it sounds easy to be misunderstood as "Berliner". 196 1 year, American president Kennedy said in a famous speech at the Berlin wall, "I am from Berlin." But he didn't expect that the word Berliner had two other interesting meanings, one was strawberry doughnut and the other was newspaper style.

"Berlin style" is one of the three oldest newspaper styles in continental Europe, which rose in the tide of newspaper development before World War I and was once very popular. Similar to Berlin style, there are North German style and French style.

After adopting Berlin style, the Guardian's current paper size is 365,438+05× 470 mm, and the printed page size is 287× 443 mm Ironically, although this modest style is closely related to Berlin, mainstream German newspapers such as Le Monde and Berlin Morning Post have all "abandoned" Berlin style and adopted it. As for the small town of Berlin in the United States (located in New Hampshire), the local Berlin daily The Sun has never even heard of "Berlin Style".

The mystery of "Berlin style" may be unexpected: if you fold a rectangular newspaper in half, you will get a "small version" with exactly the same style as the original, but the size is reduced. By analogy, readers can also fold newspapers into smaller versions. In this sense, people can turn a big newspaper into a portable tabloid or even a "small newspaper".

Whether in the mailbox, newsstand or people's hands, this style is very human. Especially, people who like reading newspapers on buses and subways can fold newspapers at will-they can carefully study all kinds of sidebars through different folding methods without affecting the surrounding passengers because they are too large. In addition, for many European gentlemen, holding a folded newspaper under their arm suddenly highlights their urbanism. "I will wear a black T-shirt and hold the Guardian." Some readers commented on The New Guardian.