An end of year message from our chief executive, Anna Bateson

In a year of disruption that has seen conflicts, mass protests, strikes and growing calls for climate action, the importance of fair and fact-based journalism is more evident than ever. That’s what sets the Guardian apart - we are open to all, funded by many and beholden to no one. 

We are so proud of the journalism that our colleagues produce, and last week celebrated scooping the top prize of news provider of the year at the British Journalism Awards. We are also thankful for the support readers demonstrate through our pioneering reader revenue model.  This year we’ve seen well over 1m regular recurring digital supporters, and the continued commitment of print subscribers globally. 

Despite the challenges of reporting in multiple warzones and tough market conditions for media, our journalism, documentaries, podcasts and newsletters continue to excel - winning 70 prestigious awards this year alone. Over 50,000 readers joined our Guardian Live events this year to hear from many speakers including Jonathan Freedland, Marina Hyde, Lenny Henry, Romesh Ranganathan, Naomi Klein and Christina Figueres.

We continue our focus on global impact, with September seeing the launch of our new Guardian Europe edition to engage readers on the continent on a deeper level with the stories and issues that matter to them most - including an expanded network of more than 20 European correspondents, editors and reporters, and a new Europe news live blog. 

Autumn saw the Guardian Media Group announce a new partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, the parent of the producers of content including The Crown and Sex Education. This exciting new collaboration will give the studio ‘first-look’ rights to the Guardian’s reporting archive for film and TV adaptations.

This year our focus was on the mainstream debut of generative AI tools. We set out a considered company approach to how we’d respond to these tools, publishing a set of GenAI principles that laid out how we will and won’t use genAI tools. Our concerns about the potential for the application of these technologies to damage our trusted relationship with our readers were highlighted when Microsoft applied an AI poll to our journalism in a deeply insensitive way.  

We continued to evolve our advertising proposition against a tough market, recently underlining the unique formula we offer - ‘scale, influence and integrity’. As the best-read quality news brand in the UK, with on average of around 9m people visiting us digitally every day we provide scale. We’re influential because we have over 1m paying supporters funding journalism that they could enjoy for free. And as a trusted media the Guardian has integrity - making decisions based on our values, such as rejecting fossil fuel advertising and most recently, banning gambling ads. 

The independence of our business enables us to place purpose and sustainability at the heart of our  strategy. This year we increased our B Corp certification score with progress in almost every category. We’ve also reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 30% over the last two years, become one of the first organisations to conduct a biodiversity audit to examine our impact on nature, and shared an updated environment pledge with readers.

Our unique position as a wholly independent media organisation in a world of billionaire-backed - and potentially state owned - news businesses was celebrated in our marketing campaign ‘Not for Sale’. Presenting an unflinching view of the Guardian as “Loved”, “Hated”, “Trusted", “Feared” and ‘Debated”…“But never controlled”, it was named as Campaign magazine’s press ad of the year.

I hope you enjoy this wrap up film of another stellar year. We look forward to breaking more era-defining stories, launching new innovations and reaching more readers in 2024.

Anna Bateson