“There’s a crisis in the industry, and the Guardian is no more immune than anyone else, but it’s a myth that we’ve plouged lunatic sums into digital.” He was responding to a comment - left on Roy Greenslade’s blog post about our exclusive PCUK/Harris poll - that had said: “It’s ploughed so much into its internet operation that it is now having to lay off journalists.”

SEE ALSO: Earnings: Guardian Media Group Swings To £89.8 Million Loss

Rusbridger’s comment confirms one of two Guardian.co.uk figures reported anonymously by FT.com last week, when it said: “A person with knowledge of the business claimed the total net loss on the digital side since 2002 had been £20 million, although no breakdown of those figures was provided.

“Annual revenue, all derived from digital advertising, had now risen to about £30 million.” Rusbridger did not disclose an annual online revenue figure. And online was included in GNM’s combined, cross-media 2008/09 earnings, which in July showed the unit’s losses widened from £26.4 million to £36.8 million.

Electronic Telegraph was the UK’s first serious national online newspaper, but Guardian News & Media has consistently invested seriously in its website as a third plank, accompanying The Guardian and The Observer, and finding new, overseas audiences to exploit in the process. It would consider cash put in to Guardian.co.uk an investment, rather than a straight loss.

Update: GNM digital media director Emily Bell also joined the comments to say: “The Guardian’s digital revenues “have grown tenfold in the last eight years to approaching £30 million.”

Disclosure: paidContent:UK’s parent company ContentNext Media is a wholly owned subsidiary of GNM.