In 2023, the British Guardian published one of the first and most detailed investigations undertaken by a media company into their own complicity in the slave trade. "The research began by investigating historical links between John Edward Taylor, the journalist who founded the Manchester Guardian in 1821, and transatlantic slavery – as well as researching the investments and business activities of the 11 other men who loaned money to start the newspaper." Taylor, the investigation concluded, "had links to slavery through partnerships in cotton manufacturing and merchant firms that imported raw cotton produced by enslaved people in the Americas." Digging deeper, the researchers discovered that nine of the eleven men who loaned money to Taylor to found the Guardian had similar links. There is no reason to think that the Guardian is unique or unusual, except that it bothered to dig into its own history.
Read more about the Guardian's investigation here.
