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Episode details

Radio 4,5 mins

Rusbridger: 'It’s important the Guardian is there to express a world view'

Today

Available for over a year

After 20 years at the helm, Alan Rusbridger edited his last edition of the Guardian on Friday. What has he achieved? What is the future of campaigning newspapers like the Guardian? He started by sharing his thoughts on how the paper had changed during his time in charge. On whether he thought the paper’s views were out of sync with the rest of the country Rusbridger told Today: “I think it’s important that in a diverse press that you have papers that express many views and it’s really important that the Guardian is there to express a world view... It’s read now by seven million people a day so I don’t think it’s really out of kilter”. On the criticism from the security services of the paper’s publication of the Edward Snowden files Rusbridger said: “That’s what journalism is there to do to bring this sort of stuff into the open… The British intelligence services are critical of course; they would rather have kept all this secret. What I hear from them when I meet them is… they accept that this stuff had to be discussed and debated”.

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