about the guardian

Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971)[2][3] is a British journalist and playwright. She became the first female editor-in-chief at The Guardian on 1 June 2015, succeeding Alan Rusbridger.[4][5] Viner previously headed The Guardian's web operations in Australia and the United States, before being selected for the editor-in-chief's position.[6] Early life and education Raised in Yorkshire,[2] Viner is the daughter of teachers. Her grandfather, Vic Viner, was an able seaman involved in the Dunkirk evacuation.[7][8] Viner was educated at Ripon Grammar School,[9] where she was head girl.[10] As a teenager, she joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Anti-Apartheid Movement, although the nearest groups were 25 miles away, and read Spare Rib.[2] Her first newspaper article, published in The Guardian in 1987 while she was still in school, was on the ending of the GCE O-level examinations, which were being replaced in the UK by the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE).[11] "Cramming five years of knowledge into two and a half hours does not seem to be a fair system," she wrote.[10] Around 1988, Viner had a period of work experience at the Ripon Gazette, her local newspaper.[12][13] After A-levels Viner studied English at Pembroke College, Oxford.[10] Just before her finals, Viner won a competition organised by The Guardian's women's page and was advised by Louise Chunn, then Guardian women's editor, to pursue a career in journalism. "I honestly thought journalism wasn't for me, I thought it was for men in suits in London," she remembered in 2005.[14] During her 20s, Viner spent most of her holidays in the Middle East, a region in which she has a particular interest, spending time in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, West Bank and other locations.[14]