Update: 10/12/2024: Some 42 current and former Guardian and Observer foreign coverage staff have written a letter to The Guardian expressing “alarm and dismay” over the planned sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media.
The letter (published by The Guardian) expresses concern for the future of foreign affairs coverage in both The Guardian and Observer. And it states: “We work across the world, and we understand that some readers outside Britain are unfamiliar with the Observer brand. In today’s media landscape, we realise that combining the Guardian and Observer brands in one website presents a challenge. But we hoped and expected that challenges such as the future of the Observer would have been discussed openly, and that major decisions affecting dozens of our colleagues would be made in consultation with journalists, not rushed through in the face of almost unanimous opposition.”
Original story, published 9/12/2024: The Guardian has published two letters from current and former staff attacking the chair of the Scott Trust, the limited company which owns Guardian Media Group.
Scott Trust chair Ole Jacob Sunde wrote an article in The Guardian on Saturday explaining why the Trust has decided to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media, saying the move followed “extensive internal and external consultation”.
Some 125 Guardian and Observer staff have signed a letter published by the title today taking issue with this and asking further questions about the sale of The Observer, which was agreed last Thursday. Those signing the letter include star Guardian writers like Simon Hattenstone, Polly Toynbee and Marina Hyde.
The letter said: “There were no conversations with Observer staff prior to a decision to explore selling the Observer. Observer journalists have not been involved in due diligence relating to the transfer. Several Scott Trust directors have refused to speak to senior Observer staff, including the editor, or simply ignored our approaches. The deal was approved while journalists were on strike.”
The letter added: “Key questions have been left unanswered. We were told that the rationale for the transfer is that the Scott Trust would never invest in the Observer; why, then, has £5m been found to underwrite Tortoise in exchange for a less-than 10% stake of this company?
“Why would the Observer have a greater chance of success as a standalone outlet, given the diseconomies of scale entailed in extracting it from an integrated operation with the Guardian?
“How is consigning Observer journalism, currently read by millions of people a week around the world, to behind a paywall that, even assuming very optimistic projections, would only be accessed by a tiny fraction of that readership, consistent with the Scott Trust objective of promoting liberal journalism?”
Former Observer editor Paul Webster, who stepped down after six years in the job last month, said in a separate letter: “I edited the paper for six years until three weeks ago, and his extensive consultations did not extend to me, nor to my colleagues on the paper, who were shocked and angry when they learned of the proposed sale in mid-September.
“Neither Ole Jacob, nor any of his fellow trust members, once raised the issues that he now says were critical to the decision to sell the paper, even though I reported annually to the trust in person and routinely invited discussion about the Observer’s future.
“Ole Jacob refused my request to address the trust once the proposed sale had been revealed, while other trust members said it would be inappropriate to discuss the matter with me individually.
“The sale, which I believe is a thoroughly bad thing for the Observer, was carried out largely in secret, excluding staff who might have made a crucial contribution to the discussions.”
A factsheet issued by Guardian News and Media about the deal on Friday said: “We were first approached by Tortoise Media at the start of the year. Initial investigations of the proposal were done over the following months. When it became clear the offer was serious we investigated further and in September we told staff we were considering the proposal.
“Since then we have spoken to our journalists, sought professional insight from external experts, and are in a formal consultation process with our unions.
“GMG considered all options available and concluded Tortoise Media is best positioned to take on the Observer and continue its legacy.”
On the question of alternative owners, it said: “A thorough scoping exercise was done at the outset of this process to understand who else might be a potential investor. Aside from Tortoise, we have not received any credible alternative bids to date – we have had two separate approaches through lawyers with no substantive details. They were anonymous and then leaked to the press.”
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