Early years The first edition of the
Manchester Guardian Weekly was printed on 4 July 1919, a week after the signing of the
Treaty of Versailles. The
Manchester Guardian viewed itself as a leading liberal voice and wanted to extend its reach, particularly in the
United States, in the changing political climate after the
First World War.
The Weekly had the stated aim of "presenting what is best and most interesting in the
Manchester Guardian, what is most distinctive and independent of time, in a compact weekly form". for a time.
Evolution and editorship 1969-2007 For a large part of its early life the newspaper was a
half-broadsheet format. Initially the notion of ‘the best of the
Guardian’ meant a weighty opinion piece for the front page. It evolved, under the editorship of John Perkin, in 1969, to include the use of pictures on the front page. In 1971, the English edition of the French daily newspaper
Le Monde folded and the
Weekly took on its 12,000-strong subscription list as well as four pages of
Le Monde copy. A content deal was made with
The Washington Post in 1975. Dedicated pages from both publications augmented
Guardian articles until a redesign in 1993, under new editor Patrick Ensor, led to their articles appearing across the
Weekly. In the same year, content from
The Observer Around this time the
Weekly relocated from
Cheadle, to the south of Manchester, to join the rest of the
Guardian in London. This move afforded the
Weekly better access to editors, leader writers and news features. In 1991, technological advances enabled the first transmission by modem of pages to an Australian print site. Under Ensor's editorship, the paper began to be produced using the desktop publishing program
Quark XPress. It became a
tabloid-sized publication; then, in 2005, when the daily
Guardian newspaper converted from a broadsheet to the smaller,
Berliner format, the
Guardian Weekly shrank to a half-Berliner while increasing pagination to its now-standard 48 pages. Full-colour printing was also introduced. By the end of Ensor's editorship, curtailed by his death from cancer in 2007, more advances in technology meant that even
Weekly readers in the most remote locations were able to access the internet.
Since 2007 The appointment of Australian
Natalie Bennett as Ensor's successor coincided with the
Guardian’s move to a digital-first publishing strategy. Breaking news stories were now launched on the
Guardian's fast-growing website, rather than held back to meet print deadlines. In 2007 a digital edition of the
Guardian Weekly was created, an editor's blog was added and a presence on social media sites
Facebook and
Twitter came soon after. During her editorship, Bennett emphasised the need for the
Weekly’s agenda to be truly global and increased its coverage of environmental issues and the developing world. Her passion for environmental politics led to her departure from the paper in 2012. She would go on to become the leader of the
Green Party of England and Wales until 2016.
The Guardian Weekly’s evolution continued under Abby Deveney, a newspaper, newswire and web editor with more than three decades of international experience living and working in North America, Asia and Europe. Under Canadian Deveney, the
Weekly embraced long-form journalism, with a greater emphasis on insightful writing, deep analysis and lively features that showcase a well-rounded world view. Reportage of global themes and trends now features on the front page, while the back page is a stage for the
Guardian’s influential opinion writers. Her global experience ensures that
the Weekly never comes from one geographical perspective. This aim has been aided by the launch in 2011 of a
Guardian US website, edited from New York City, followed two years later by a Sydney-based
Guardian Australia site, which greatly increased the Weekly’s coverage opportunities in these key territories. Deveney left the editorship in 2017 and was eventually replaced by Will Dean in April 2018. Graham Snowdon took over as editor in November 2023.
The Guardian Weekly was re-designed in October 2018 as a glossy magazine. It was announced that the circulation of the magazine would increase, and three different editions would be published: International, North American, and Australian. A European edition was added in 2024. == Format ==