Guardian “Comment Is Free” – Meeting 19 June 2008

ANTISEMITISM ON GUARDIAN ‘COMMENT IS FREE’JULY 2008Jonathan Hoffman1. The Problem 1. The Manchester Guardian was founded by John Edward Taylor in 182 1. TheGuardian achieved national and international recognition under the edi torshipof CP Scott, who held the post for 57 years from 1872. He o utlined theweltanschau of The Guardian in a much-quoted article written to cele brate thecentenary of the paperC: o"mment is free, but facts are sacred... Th evoice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard ." 2. In the past twenty five years, The Guardian has faced increasing com petitivethreats. In 1986 The Independent launched, taking some of the centr e groundbetween The Guardian on the one hand and the Times and Telegrap h on theother. Then The Times cut its price to 20p in 1994. The Guardia n was theonly broadsheet to stay aloof from the price war. It responded in o ther ways.One was to invest heavily in technology, including the development of a newnetwork of websites, launched in January 1999. By March 2001 Gua rdianUnlimited had over 2.4 million unique users, making it the most p opular UKnewspaper website.3. In 1904, Chaim Weizmann became Professor of Chemistry at Manch esterUniversity. CP Scott first met Weizmann at a tea party in Manchest er tenyears later, in September 1914. He was clearly impressed by th e Zionistpioneer. Scott wrote:W h“ at struck me in his view was first the perfectly clear conception of a Jewish ...