Dear reader

Thank you very much for your commitment to the Guardian. We know how much you value independent Guardian journalism in these frightening and uncertain times. We are grateful that you have put your faith in us.

I write to you from London, with the vast majority of colleagues and many readers around the world working from home. With you, we are trying to face this unsettling moment with fortitude, and we’re remembering our history – the Guardian and Observer continued to publish throughout the 1918 flu pandemic and both world wars, and we will do our best to do the same during this global coronavirus pandemic.

Over the coming weeks and months we will put all our efforts into the following:

We will bring you the news and information you need about Covid-19, and the facts that can help you: we value expertise, scientific knowledge and careful judgment in our reporting. We know that you find the wild conspiracies of social media and noisy TV pundits off-putting and confusing; instead, the Guardian brings you the facts you can trust.

We will bring new perspectives and insights to help us understand how the crisis is changing how we live, eat, socialise, travel, connect and care for each other.

We will hold world leaders to account for their handling of the crisis, through investigative reporting and asking the right questions.

We will focus on the challenges facing the poorest: homeless people, workers in the gig economy, those who don’t get sick pay, those who can’t work from home. And we will bring you the personal stories of the people most affected: looking not just at the powerful, but those whose voices are often unheard.

We will pay particular attention to what it is like to be a health worker right now: are they getting the protection and support they need? We are committed to hearing what they tell us.

We will try to understand what’s happening in the economy, using our financial expertise and judgment to work out what the recession means for businesses and workers alike, and what the future holds.

We will bring you international perspectives on how different countries are responding, working out which approaches work best, and why, through our exceptional network of correspondents. In addition, our sizeable teams and localised editions of the Guardian in Britain, the US, Australia and elsewhere across the world mean you receive a truly global understanding of this unprecedented situation.

We will investigate why this pandemic has happened, understanding what caused it, so we can work out how to prevent it happening again. We will pull all our work together in a new weekly email newsletter which you can sign up to here.

We will listen to our community of readers: you are asking crucial questions, giving us invaluable insights into what’s happening where you live, and inspiring us with your acts of solidarity.

We will not forget that other issues still matter, most especially the climate crisis; our dedicated teams will continue to bring you their unrivalled reporting on the environment.

And, finally, we will bring some hope. With clarity and imagination, we will find a way to build a better society, and a new and fairer way to live.

At the Guardian, we believe that high-quality news should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford it. To those who have supported us financially over many years, thank you. Your contributions are helping to provide free, useful, regularly updated, properly sourced and accurate information for many millions of people around the world. To those who are thinking of giving: remember that every digital or print subscription and every financial contribution gives support to an organisation that is entirely devoted to journalism. There are no shareholders to pay, no billionaire owner to subsidise.

If you can, please consider supporting Guardian journalism today with a print subscription, a digital subscription, or a contribution of any size. Every act of support makes a meaningful difference to the quality of information in our shared public space.

This week readers around the world have come to the Guardian in unprecedented numbers. Together we can find a way through this crisis – together with you, our readers, old and new.

Take care,

Katharine Viner

Editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media