I rushed back from my overrun supervision fully aware of my jittery nerves. It is not everyday you get to speak with someone as accomplished as Alan Rusbridger. Having spent two decades as editor-in-chief at The Guardian and another six years as the principal of Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford, Rusbridger now edits Prospect, doggedly commenting on issues that plague contemporary times. During his tenure at The Guardian, the newspaper underwent a significant transformation from a modest print audience to a global digital giant currently boasting 81 million unique visitors every month. Huddled behind a room divider as the hall filled with students excited to hear Rusbridger's thoughts, I was sat opposite one of the most influential people in modern British journalism.

With all the impressive positions he has held, I had not anticipated the softly spoken and humble person who met me. Echoing the fears that haunt many Cambridge students, Rusbridger reflects that he always felt a bit of an imposter during his time reading English Literature at Magdalene. “I wouldn’t have got in on the grades that I got, which was always a factor on my mind when I went to be the head of house at Oxford. That was one of the reasons I sort of felt I had to make recompense for, but I still love Cambridge.” Not getting involved much in student journalism, Rusbridger went on to work for Cambridge Evening News after finishing his degree. “It feels strange coming back because Cambridge is just so much slicker and smarter than it was,” he tells me.

“It seemed ridiculous that anybody would want to read anything on their phone”

Rusbridger’s book Breaking News details the turmoil involved in the transition of The Guardian from print to digital journalism. I ask how difficult it was to navigate the changing landscape of news consumption. “Nobody knew anything about websites; nobody knew anything about social media. It seemed ridiculous that anybody would want to read anything on their phone, you know, so it was like every time you thought you had got to grips with digital there was another revolution around the corner. Somebody referred to it as rebuilding a plane in mid-flight,” he explains.

While some journalists cast doubt on freely available online journalism, Rusbridger was enthusiastic about it in what he describes in his book as “the remaking of journalism”: “It was incredibly exciting, exhausting, frightening, exhilarating. It was quite scary at the time.” His enthusiasm about digital media raises questions about how long he thinks print media is going to last. “I think it is definitely a medium for older people. And I think there are enough older people that will go on reading newspapers until either they die or the newspaper dies. But there hasn’t been a single national paper that’s gone yet. It surprises me but it’s more resilient than I thought it would be.”

Opening American and Australian editions of the newspaper, Rusbridger played a key role in expanding its publishing bases to the extent that 60% of The Guardian’s audience now resides outside of the UK. I asked him to give us some insights into his leadership style. “The Guardian is a very unusual paper because it has no proprietor. It’s owned by a trust. So there was nobody almost uniquely in British journalism. There was nobody above me telling me what to think or who I had to think about or what they might think.” With this immense editorial freedom he describes his management style as being much more inclusive, as “if you’ve got nobody above, you have to edit the paper in a different way because the only reference points are your colleagues and your readers. You’re really gathering the expertise and the eyewitness reporting around you rather than as I think happens on some newspapers with editors sitting behind the desk telling people what to go out and write.”

“It is quite exciting to be a part of a generation that is obviously going to reinvent journalism”

During his time The Guardian won the prestigious Pulitzer prize and covered major stories including Assange’s WikiLeaks, News Of The World’s phone hacking scandal and the Edward Snowden confessions. Rusbridger tells me that he is proud that they have built up a tremendous reputation for investigative journalism. “The economic challenges continue to be severe, but I think it’s a great paper, and I was proud to have a role in helping to transform,” he says. Referring to these financial difficulties, he explains the paper as an economic model: “Because we can now see what works and what doesn’t work, especially in local newspapers, if you cut half the staff and reduce the value of what you’re doing, people won’t pay for it. If you do journalism that is courageous and matters then you can go to the reader and say will you pay, and they’ll say if you do stuff like that we will pay.”

At Prospect, Rusbridger covers a wide array of topics from his commentary on modern society and opinions on British politics to his thoughtful reflections on current global affairs. Perhaps I was being restrictive by asking him what the most pressing issue that people should be discussing right now is, but after pausing to reflect, Rusbridger settles on climate change as the single topic that trumps everything else. Despite this, he explains how it can be a challenging topic to report on: “It is very difficult journalistically to cover climate change. Journalism thrives on things that are new, and in a sense, climate change moves slowly in journalistic terms. It doesn’t present fresh stories all the time. Finding ways of reimagining it and revitalising it and keeping it on the front page, is I think one of the great challenges. I don’t think journalism has done very well in meeting that challenge.”

As the restless chattering from the other side of the room became louder, I glanced through to see a brimming hall eagerly awaiting to hear from Rusbridger. What advice would he have for aspiring young journalists? “You have to think of it as a vocation,” he tells me. “There are so many reasons not to do it. It is hideously insecure, badly paid and stressful. So unless you feel you have that vocation, find something else to do.” Rusbridger’s comments confirm the fears budding journalists have about this career possibility; however, he is quick to note the positive aspects as well. “I think it is quite exciting to be a part of a generation that is obviously going to reinvent journalism. When I first went into journalism a mile away from here, nothing had changed in journalism for about a hundred years, and it felt like nothing ever would change. So I think the one thing about being your age is that you can change things.”