Job: editor of the Guardian; executive editor of the Observer
Age: 51
Industry: publishing, new media
Circulation: 368,294 (Jan-June 2005)
Salary: £300,000
2004 ranking: 22

Alan Rusbridger is in his 10th year in charge of the Guardian and is preparing for one of the biggest changes in the paper's 184-year history.

The Guardian will be relaunched this autumn in a new "Berliner" format never before seen in the UK. Rusbridger rejected switching to a tabloid, saying the smaller format led to a "different type of journalism". He has said the new all-colour Guardian will be "beautiful".

Guardian Newspapers, which has spent £50m on new printing presses, will also relaunch the Observer in the new format next spring.

Rusbridger used the inaugural Hugo Young lecture to call for a greater level of debate about the role of newspapers in the age of 24-hour TV news and the internet. "The apathetic voter is a cliché of modern politics," he warned. "Perhaps we're now facing the apathetic reader."

But the Guardian editor has challenged the Independent's conversion to a so-called "viewspaper", with comment regularly promoted to the front page. "News is where it all has to start and whether that's trustworthy," he said.

Rusbridger falls 29 places in this year's MediaGuardian 100, after he rose up last year's list because of the impending general election.

However, he remains the highest placed broadsheet editor, partly because of the unique nature of the Guardian's parent, the Scott Trust. Unlike a traditional newspaper proprietor, the roles of the Scott Trust do not include influencing editorial content.

"Everyone else, with the possible exception of Paul Dacre, has a boss who is influencing their thinking," explained one panellist. "The Guardian is the heartland of the left, and it is good to see someone making a stand about quality journalism."

Guardian Newspapers' internet arm, Guardian Unlimited, continues to grow and win awards and is the UK's second biggest news website outside of the BBC. This year it won best newspaper on the internet at the Webby Awards and was named best daily newspaper on the web at the 2005 Newspaper Awards for the sixth year running.