Guido hears from insiders at the Observer that it is far from happy families at the sunday paper, now owned by slow-news leftists at Tortoise. Even the BBC had a laugh at James Harding’s expense…
Internal sources leaking from the newsroom say the sign up to emails hasn’t been working and live events can be signed up to for free when they should be paid. And even then there is no sign up email…
Sources say there is no working archive function for the website’s content and no subscription plans for digital content. Guido hears that somewhere in the region of £250,000 was spent on developing a mobile app which is so far so dysfunctional it just links back to the Observer’s website. Scrambling to sort out the print has delayed audiovisual products, some of which should have gone out weeks ago. Teething problems…
An inside source tells Guido:
“Internal work flows are a mess and people have been working late into the night to get basic stuff done – some very unhappy people inside.”
Meanwhile Harding’s slow news venture Tortoise Media is tanking viewers at a hare’s rate. Double trouble…
The Observer has sent out its first email to subscribers this morning promising “a range of expanded newsletters from the Observer” before listing two: a daily news one and a food review one. James Harding’s new vanity project getting off to a slow start…
A portion of the new paper’s website, launched on Friday, is dedicated to advertising “podcasts from the team behind The Observer” at Tortoise Media. Which has lost half of its readers this year so far…
On BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme yesterday the usually emollient host Paddy O’Connell ripped into the new operation with Harding present in the studio:
“The cover price of The Observer – £4.20! Many people according to the BBC news are turning off the news, describing it as depressing relentless and boring. The Observer hasn’t published circulation figures for years because they’ve been plummeting. Is anyone buying these things – is it just us banging on on Sunday?”
Harding’s response was to waffle that “when The Observer was launched in 1791 actually one of the things that is special about it was it committed itself it had some principles independence and truth but it committed itself to the dissemination of every species of knowledge.” Paddy furiously interjected – “It’s no good taking me back, I’ve never been taken back so far in one Sunday morning. People are not buying papers James”…
Harding says his pet paper will be “liberal, “progressive” and “internationalist,” it is “trying to do the opposite of what Hitler would have done” and its unofficial motto is that “dignity is as important as good.” When the cash burn runway expires, will the Observer go down with the Tortoise ship?
James Harding’s slow news outlet Tortoise Media reported a loss of £3.8 million for 2023, down a bit from a loss of £4.6 million the year before. It looks like things might be getting worse…
Analysis of internet traffic on SimilarWeb shows a massive drop in Tortoise readership from 465,560 in January to 242,328 in March. A 48% decline…
A newsroom insider tells Guido that senior staff are taking their “eye off the ball” and internal numbers also show a circa 50% reduction in podcast listenership. Observer staff who haven’t resigned will have thoughts on that…
20% of the site’s traffic already comes from Guardian URLs. Once the takeover is complete The Observer will no doubt be aggressively plugging Tortoise articles. Not just slow news, low traffic news…
Yesterday it emerged that longstanding Observer writer Carole Cadwalladr would not get her contract renewed as James Harding’s Tortoise Media takes over the paper. Cadwalladr was a leading figure in the large strike against the sale…
Last week, the new owners of the Observer wrote to tell me they would *not* be issuing me with a new contract.
So…I want to say publicly that it was an absolute privilege to speak on behalf of my Observer colleagues during our strike. I don’t regret doing so. And I learned so… https://t.co/MbaWUKg05w
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 25, 2025
The title will operationally pass to the new owners on 20 April this year. Carole says “it’s been the journalistic job of my dreams” and that “I felt sad about leaving my perch in a global news org but now I’m energised by the challenge ahead.” Thankfully Carole will still be around on her Substack: ‘How to Survive the Broligarchy‘…
Cadwalladr is also starting a podcast along with other media projects which she says are “the chance to respond to this extraordinary crisis with something new.” Guido wishes her well…
The Observer has appointed its deputy editor Lucy Rock as print editor to report to Tortoise Media’s James Harding, who will be editor-in-chief. Tortoise has officially signed its deal buying the paper as it enters a transition period with a view to publishing in the spring…
Observer staff who don’t want to work under the new regime can apply for voluntary redundancy now until mid-January. Guido hears there is some disquiet on both sides of the fence over the deal. Tortoise’s offices have been mostly empty of senior staff this week while the ire of the entire organisation is levelled at Carole Cadwalladr’s campaign against the sale. There is some concern that Tortoise lacks requisite numbers of digital, operational, or marketing staff as it heads into the transition period. The Guardian has been in meltdown over the tortuous sale process as allegations of lying fly between hacks and senior management…
After the approval by the Scott Trust – which owns the Guardian Media Group – of the sale of the Observer to James Harding’s Tortoise Media last week nerves are far from calming. 125 Guardian and Observer staff have penned a letter – published on the Guardian website – accusing Scott Trust chairman Ole Jacob Sunde of being far from accurate in his claim that the sale of the paper was agreed only after “extensive internal and external consultation.” The staff were having none of it:
“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… 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?
Guardian hacks note that putting the Observer behind a paywall would mean the site would only be “accessed by a tiny fraction of that readership.” Striking hasn’t done the job – are principled resignations on the way?
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
