Last modified on Fri 7 May 2021 07.12 EDT
On the day the Guardian was born in Manchester on 5 May 1821, the big story was taking place 4,800 miles away on an island in the south Atlantic.
The first edition of the Manchester Guardian, published on 5 May 1821. Photograph: Guardian News & Media Archive/The Guardian
The fact that it took weeks for news of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death on St Helena to become known shows how communication has sped up down the years. It also shows just how long the Guardian has been around.
This was the world of the first Industrial Revolution, built around steam power and textiles, a time when Manchester businessmen wanted to harness the power of the press to push for the vote. Electric power was a thing of the future. The rich got around on horseback; the poor walked.
In an interview to mark 200 years of The Guardian, editor Katharine Viner spoke to Press Gazette about the secret of its longevity.
The Guardian enters its third century in a secure financial position (with just under £1bn in the bank and sustainable losses running at £10-20m annually). And while print circulation continues to decline (to just over 100,000 copies per day), it claims more than 1m paying readers and is the sixth biggest news website in the world with 317m website visits in March 2021.
PG: Congratulations on 200 years in print. What do you think is the secret to The Guardian’s success?