Alan Rusbridger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Alan Rusbridger in 2007

Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953 in Northern Rhodesia) is the son of the late G H Rusbridger, the Director of Education of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). He has been editor of The Guardian since 1995. Previously he was a reporter, columnist, features editor and the deputy editor of The Guardian. Briefly, he worked for The Observer as a critic and was Washington Editor of the ill-fated London Daily News before returning to The Guardian in 1987.

Contents

[edit] Early life

He was educated at Cranleigh School, a boys' independent school in Cranleigh, Surrey, and at Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge.

[edit] Career

His first job in journalism was with the Cambridge Evening News. He joined The Guardian as a reporter in 1979. He subsequently wrote the paper's diary column and was a feature writer. On returning to The Guardian in 1987 he launched Guardian Weekend and the paper's G2 section. As editor, he oversaw the launch and development of Guardian Unlimited. He defended the paper against a number of high-profile defamation suits, including from the Police Federation and the Conservative MPs, Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken. In late 2005 The Guardian responded to the tabloid re-launches of The Times and The Independent by moving from a broadsheet format to a "Berliner" format, common in continental Europe.

He is a member of the board of Guardian News and Media, of the main board of the Guardian Media Group and of the Scott Trust, which owns The Guardian. He is executive editor of The Observer, a visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London. Since 2004 he has been Chairman of the National Youth Orchestra. Despite the Guardian newspaper being loss-making [1], Rusbridger is one of the best-paid newspaper editors in the UK taking home £471,000 in pay and benefits in 2008/9 [2].

[edit] Publications

He has written three children's books as well as being the co-author (with Ronan Bennett) of a BBC drama, Fields of Gold.

[edit] Campaigns

Mr. Rusbridger supports 10:10, per "4-11" September 2009 Guardian issue.

[edit] Personal life

In 1982 he married the St Leonards School-educated educationalist Lindsay Mackie in Islington. She helped found FILMCLUB. They have two daughters (born 1983 and May 1986), who were educated at the exclusive private St Paul's Girls' School in London. His wife is good friends with Tessa Jowell, whom she knew at the University of Edinburgh, and he is good friends with her estranged husband, David Mills. They both own cottages in the same Gloucestershire village[1]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] News items

Media offices
Preceded by
Peter Preston
Editor of The Guardian
1995 - present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Languages