The sale of the Observer, the globe’s earliest Sunday paper, to information startup Tortoise Media has actually been authorized.
The step by the boards of its proprietor the Scott Trust and the Guardian Media Group complied with a 48-hour strike today by reporters on the Observer and the Guardian in demonstration at the sale.
The Scott Trust stated it will certainly buy Tortoise Media, coming to be an essential investor, sitting on both its content and business boards.
The offer will certainly see ₤ 25 million in brand-new financial investment for the 233-year-old Sunday paper, with a dedication to publish the Observer on a Sunday and a strategy to construct it right into an electronic brand name by the boards of the Scott Trust and Guardian Media Group, they revealed.
Tortoise Media was released in 2018 by previous BBC exec and Times editor James Harding and Matthew Barzun, a previous United States ambassador.
The startup, which is experts in what it calls “slow news”, stated it has actually devoted to guard journalistic flexibility and the content self-reliance of the Observer, embarking on to honour the “liberal values and journalistic standards” of the Scott Trust in their content code.
It is anticipated the offer will certainly be checked in the coming days.
Mr Harding, editor and creator of Tortoise, stated: “We are honoured and excited at the prospect of working together to renew The Observer, a name that represents the best of liberal, pioneering journalism.
“We admire its temperament, both tolerant and humane. We love its appetite for the arts and, of course, food. We promise its readers we will do all we can to live up to its history as a defender of human dignity and to give it a new lease of life as a powerful, progressive voice in the world.”
Matthew Barzun, chairman and creator of Tortoise, stated: “This process revealed the enormous regard and passionate connection so many have to the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper.
“I am deeply appreciative of our investor partners, including the Scott Trust, all of whom expect the highest quality independent journalism.
“We are filled with an awesome sense of responsibility as we become a part of its long story and participants in sharing the stories it will long keep telling.”
Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of Guardian News & & Media, stated: “I recognise how unsettling this period has been for Observer staff, but we’re confident we have agreed the best possible way forward for the title’s journalists, its readers and the future of both the Observer and the Guardian.
“It is a model that will see investment in journalism and journalists, enshrines the Scott Trust’s values in the Observer’s future, and protects the Observer and Guardian’s ability to continue to produce trusted, liberal journalism.”
