Guardian News & Media today announced a series of senior editorial changes across its US, UK and Australian operations.
Janine Gibson, editor-in-chief of Guardian US, will move to London where she will assume the role of a deputy editor of Guardian News & Media and editor-in-chief of theguardian.com.
Katharine Viner, currently editor-in-chief of Guardian Australia and a deputy editor of Guardian News & Media, will replace Gibson as editor-in-chief of Guardian US, moving to New York from Sydney. She remains a deputy editor of Guardian News & Media.
Both will take up their new roles in summer 2014.
Gibson launched Guardian US in September 2011, and has since created a truly agenda-setting digital news operation which, amongst many triumphs, is most notable for its handling of the extraordinary, multi award-winning Edward Snowden revelations. Under her stewardship, Guardian US has grown to account for over a third of the Guardian's global audience of 40 million unique users, and has become a formidable force within the US media landscape.
Gibson's new role will see her accelerating the next stage of the Guardian's digital transformation, which has already seen the media organisation become the third biggest English-language newspaper in the world, with market-beating digital revenues.
Launched by Viner in May 2013, Guardian Australia has seen rapid growth with record traffic figures, massive reader engagement, a raft of exclusive stories -- including former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard breaking her silence on losing power and the revelation that Australia was spying on the Indonesian president's phone -- and the recruitment of high-profile contributors from politics, the arts and the media. Viner has created a lively, challenging and thought-provoking digital operation which has proved popular with readers and advertisers alike. Under her leadership, Guardian Australia has grown its highly engaged and loyal audience to almost four million browsers and has become a force to be reckoned with in both Australian journalism and Australian public life.
Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media, said: "Janine has done an extraordinary job launching and editing Guardian US. She has pioneered award-winning, agenda-setting digital journalism, assembled a first-rate team, and built a hugely significant audience in the US. With her unparalleled experience of digital journalism, she is perfectly placed to spearhead the next phase of the Guardian's digital journey.
''Katharine has done a terrific job in Australia, opening a brand-new operation in Sydney, hiring a fantastic team of interesting and talented journalists, increasing traffic dramatically, setting the agenda, and quickly establishing the Guardian as a force to be reckoned with in Australian journalism. She will bring experience, energy, enthusiasm and expertise to ensure that Guardian US goes from strength to strength."
Janine Gibson said: "It's been a privilege to have had the opportunity to launch and lead Guardian US for the last three years. I'm immensely proud of our fantastic team -- the site's success is entirely down to them -- and I'm grateful to them and our readers for their support. My sadness at leaving them is assuaged only by the knowledge that Katharine Viner is a brilliant editor and the very best person to lead them through this next phase of growth and innovation. Part of coming here was about figuring out new ways to do groundbreaking digital journalism. It's exciting to take what we've learned and continue to build the Guardian's global, digital future."
Katharine Viner said: "I'm delighted to be moving to New York to edit Guardian US after an amazing year launching Guardian Australia. Guardian US has established itself firmly in the US media landscape with the extraordinary series of NSA scoops, and I'm looking forward to working with the terrific Guardian US team to uncover more untold stories and deepen our relationship with our American readers. I can't wait to get going."
Further changes will see Stuart Millar, currently deputy editor of Guardian US, move to London, where he will take the role of overall head of news, working with journalists and editors across every news desk, across every platform and device. Emily Wilson, currently UK network editor of theguardian.com, will replace Viner as editor of Guardian Australia.
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Media Contact:
Gennady Kolker
Director of Media Relations, Guardian US
e: gennady.kolker@theguardian.com
t: 646-937-5878
Notes to editors
Janine Gibson
Janine Gibson joined the Guardian in 1998 as media correspondent and was made editor of MediaGuardian in 2000. During her time as editor she launched the MediaGuardian website, which quickly established itself as the breaking news source for the media industry. In May 2003, she was appointed editor of the Media, Society, Education and Technology print supplements. Her appointment as editor of the Guardian website was announced in 2008, when her responsibilities were expanded to include the supervision all of Guardian News & Media's digital news content.
In 2011, Janine left London to become editor-in-chief of Guardian US - the Guardian's New York-based newsroom - where she leads a staff of reporters and editors who cover American news for an online, global audience.
Under Janine's leadership, the US site has won a range of prestigious awards, including the 2013 Online Journalism Awards for Innovative Investigative Journalism and Watchdog Journalism, the Polk award for national security journalism and AdWeek's Hottest News site award. In 2012, Guardian US won three prizes for interactives at The Malofiej Awards and first place in the "explanatory reporting" category at the 2012 Online Journalism Awards.
Janine began her career working for Televisual, first as staff writer, then as news editor and finally deputy editor. She joined the weekly trade newspaper Broadcast in July 1997 as international editor and moved to the Independent as media correspondent a year later. She has a degree in English Literature, two children, a full driving licence and plays the piano (but not as well as Alan Rusbridger). She tweets at @JanineGibson.
Katharine Viner
Katharine Viner joined the Guardian as a writer in 1997 and has since undertaken numerous roles including editor of Weekend magazine, features editor, head of commentary and opinion, and Saturday editor.
She has been deputy editor of the Guardian since 2007 and launched the award-winning Guardian Australia in May 2013 as editor-in-chief. Guardian Australia has quickly established itself as a major presence in Australian public life, with a series of agenda-setting scoops,
record-breaking traffic and a deeply engaged readership. Katharine gave the 2013 AN Smith lecture in journalism at the University of Melbourne, The Rise of the Reader, discussing journalism in the age of the open web.
Prior to joining the Guardian, Katharine worked at the Sunday Times in London. She is the co-editor of an award-winning play, has been on the judging panel of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Orange Prize) and is a board member of London's Royal Court theatre. Katharine tweets at @KathViner.
About Guardian News & Media
Guardian News & Media (GNM) publishes theguardian.com, the third largest English-speaking newspaper website in the world (comScore, November 2013). Since launching its US and Australia digital editions in 2011 and 2013 respectively, traffic from outside of the UK now represents over two-thirds of the Guardian's total digital audience.
In the UK, GNM publishes the Guardian newspaper six days a week and the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer.
The newspapers were named the most trustworthy, accurate and reliable newspapers in the UK in 2013.
The Guardian, which was first published in 1821, is most recently renowned for its agenda-setting NSA and GCHQ revelations following disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden, its globally acclaimed investigation into phone hacking and the launch of its groundbreaking digital-first strategy in 2011 and its trailblazing partnership with WikiLeaks in 2010.