Alan Rusbridger on the future of news and Prospect's growth

Alan Rusbridger is one of Britain’s most acclaimed journalists. As editor of The Guardian for 20 years, he oversaw the outlet’s transition into the digital world and landed a Pulitzer Prize for publishing information leaked by Edward Snowdon about the US National Security Agency.

Since 2021, he has worked as editor of Prospect, a leading British current affairs magazine celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Prospect had an exceptional year in 2024, nearly doubling its digital circulation to more than make up for losses in print circulation.

Rusbridger joins host Jack Benjamin to discuss what is driving strong growth for Prospect. The pair also weigh up the sustainability of news media business models, the differences between US and British press standards, whether social media platforms provide a net benefit to publishers and what journalism will look like in the age of AI.

"We're in a world of information chaos," Rusbridger says. "We're in a world where people don't know who to believe or what to believe, increasingly. We know there are bad players who are deliberately pumping out information that is wrong.

"You've got the most powerful man in the world actively trying to create a world in which disinformation, misinformation flourish and facts and fact-based journalism don't. And it's really frightening.

"Advertisers are part of that world. The advertisers I've spoken to are dismayed by the thought of their content swimming in this sea of garbage – I'm using a polite word – because it's not good for their brands. it's not good for trust in information."

Highlights:

2:09: What drew Rusbridger to Prospect and his editorial strategy for the magazine

8:46: Drivers of Prospect's digital growth

14:16: Can advertising models still support news media?

24:38: Journalism's messy relationship with AI

29:51: The failure of trust in news in the US and the UK

38:18: Why platforms are "good, bad and ugly"

43:49: What keeps Rusbridger up at night

Related articles:

‘End of an era for search as we know it’? Publishers grapple with gen-AI search

Stagwell out to prove business case for investing in news

Consumer ABCs 2024: 5 key takeaways

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