Well said. Sounds like personal egos doing a deal in a Tuscan villa. If the Trust is true to its values why doesn’t it sell it to the staff under an EOT - Employee Ownership Trust. It’s easy to value and has a revenue stream. Mutual Equity not Private Equity
Surely the Trust has a duty to represent the interests of the paper. This means they must look at a range of offers and , as Trustees, look out for the interests of the main business asset….the journalists?
Exactly what I was thinking halfway through the article!
I sold my business to the employees under an EOT some years ago. The one challenge the staff might have then, is understanding that their pay (maybe any pay, not just bonuses) will depend upon profits. Then they’ll be fighting amongst themselves.
It could be a very weird version of Animal Farm they create…ironic when imagining the ghost of Orwell watching over these new worker-owners from his birthplace…
How can the Telegraph value it at 10 times latest profit ( reported £3m profit and £30m valuation) . It’s no more than 3 or 5 times in the sector, but it all depends on how certain is that profit. I feel there’s a deal to be done…multiple ways to fund it but it’s over valued.
Oh my God, Carole, this is appalling. Thank you for writing this piece and for your moral clarity. I am shocked that the GNM would behave this way, believing as I did that The Guardian & Observer are truly independent thanks to the Scott Trust. I’ve been a reader for 34 years, the last 12 of which have been spent as a paid subscriber in America where, as you correctly point out, journalism and truth itself are imperiled. How could GNM betray its staff and its readers at any time, much less NOW? It’s beyond the pale. I am so sorry this is happening, and you and your fellow journalists have my full support. Put another way, if the Observer is sold in this fashion, I can’t continue to support the Guardian as a reader and subscriber. Good luck and again, THANK YOU.
I think being betrayed by the organisation you work for is one of the most difficult realities to grapple with as an employee.
There’s anger, grief, disbelief and it’s not a long walk from the chaos of uncertainty back to nostalgia.
Back to “remember when” journalistic fantasies about the pre-Trumpian times when the press was politically free and unbiased and without agenda.
If we’re speaking the truth to power:
Deep down, when we’re alone and quiet with our intuition, we know this time never existed, but it is a comforting cocoon to hang out in while we figure out how to reorient ourselves back to reality.
With all respect, the fact that you’re writing on
Substack kind of says it all.
The best thing any journalist can do now is learn from these mistakes and build something new.
The times of institutional reverence are over.
If you guys are so in the dark, that shows how little they care about you, so why waste your energy defending them? (I appreciate that’s not an easy thing to hear)
As a forty year old Brit with a Philosophy degree - The Guardian was always the paper of record for me.
But in the last five years, that’s changed.
They have lost their way in a haze of hubris and certainty thinking that the paper is old therefore it will endure.
The Guardian is outdated, unfocused and lacks courage.
I agree, any sale at this point is putting nails in the coffin and unless there’s a seismic shift in the organisation it won’t be around in ten years.
I wish you all the best and look forward to reading more of your writing Carole.
I do not understand the "need" to sell it to anyone at all. There is endowment to run it as is, and our subscriptions surely go a long way towards running costs as well.
As far as I can see this is a deal to prop up the failing business of a friend of the CEO. Perhaps the Board should consider removing the CEO.
I continue to pay for my subscription to the Guardian Weekly. Although I do not always find time to read very much of any issue since they fo not arrive each week.
I subscribe to the Guardian Weekly because it is a print newspaper.
I would read it if it arrived once a week. But I don't get it every week here in Peru. Instead I get a stack of four or five envelopes that arrive all together at the post office, whenever that happens, randomly.
It is unpredictable .
I assume that this happens because of the bulk mailing options that the Guardian has chosen to send its weekly magazine out to subscribers in foreign lands.
I continue to subscribe year after year because I promised my mother I would do so.
I'm 75 and before she died in 2012 she made me promise to keep subscribing to the Guardian because
"She made me promise ..." Something I find quite moving about that but I'm not sure why. Something to do with what Robert Jay Lifton called Death and the Continuity of Life and, as elaborated by Ernest Becker, Symbolic Immortality. But it's lovely.
As a resident in trumplandia, your warnings are spot on. We are facing (and this not hyperbole) an existential threat—and not just to journalism as you eloquently and honestly describe—but to education, the arts, our financial systems (rigged against the vulnerable), social equity and Mother Nature (whose oil bounty will be raped and used to kill her off). Why: Capitalism has created its own Frankenstein's Monster that is only happy when it is hungry for more and will only remain happy if NOTHING (including our heroes in the press like you) stands in its greedy way. I am sharing your article on my Substack platform and other media outlets. It is going to be a bumpy and potential deadly next four years (unless you are an under-educated, white evangelical--then your participation in the trump-cult will satiate your greed and racism.) I have been reading the Guardian since 1970 and giving extra financial support for more than five years. That may have to be rescinded. Thank you for this important post. I think Mr Perry's suggestion is spot on...
As you point out the public has lost faith in the media. The only newspapers I have read over the last few years are the Guardian and Observer. I trust few news outlets so it has been important to pick out journalists with integrity, you being one of them. It’s clear to me why management wanted to hide their negotiations because scrutiny would have highlighted what lay beneath them. If everything had been open,, honest and transparent then the workforce would have been kept informed and have been part of the process. We have seen what happens when organisations act in the interests of cronies and lining their pockets and their own. It’s no longer about the best interests of the news outlet its valued journalists and the public who rely on the truth. Sadly it could lead to the ‘death’ of those outlets and as you say, once they are gone they are gone for good. We can only hope but I won’t hold my breath!
This feels so awful Carole and I hope that this wave of utterly vile times will change eventually and in no small part thanks to the brave and courageous actions of you and those that you work with. Solidarity mate
This is absolutely terrifying. I've been using domestic violence as a model to explain authoritarianism to people. An abuser goes after the thing you are most proud of, the thing that means the most to you. In the case of democracy, that's a free press. Remember, they don't see us people as anything more than pawns on a chessboard. The Guardian bragged about freedom, so now the sharks are going for blood. Thank you for sharing, Carole. There are many women who privately know what you're going through.
Really sorry to hear this, Carole. I came across the news of The Observer sale on Friday and I was shocked, but even more now reading your piece and the extent to which these conversations have been carried out in secrecy. It is all the more frustrating knowing that previous governments have prevented the recommendations of the Levenson Inquiry to be implemented on purpose and that the current PM has stated there are no plans to revive it, which The Guardian reported on https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jul/25/keir-starmer-confirms-he-has-no-plans-to-revive-second-stage-of-leveson-inquiry
For anyone who doubted the need for a regulatory press body, this is the sad confirmation of how instrumental it could have been in preventing this situation and protecting journalists. Terrible news indeed.
My Guardian-reading days go back to when Alastair Hetherington was in charge. Although I greatly admired both Peter Preston and Alan Rusbridger I can't help feeling that there's been a progressive decline in the quality of the paper since the 70s. (I don't distinguish, tho' I know I should, between the weekday and Sunday editions because these days I just read bits and pieces online simply because there are so many really good independent online news sources.) There remain of course individual journalists of world class calibre (Hello Carole!) and I read them at the G avidly, but in general it's so often a disappointing publication now. (See e.g. Jonathan Cook ... for one of the most articulate critics.)
Very worrying. It begs the question, who is Tortoise under the influence of? As a long time Guardian reader, since I could read! This angers me. I shall be writing to the Scott Trust
This extremely disturbing. I donated before and am happy to donate again if Guardian/Observer make more trouble for you, Carole. The current ed-in-chief has been a disaster from day one and she's all but ruining the G's reputation for integrity and honesty (mostly over Israel/Gaza but other issues too). I had naively thought that (secretly) the G/Obs was supporting you because of your admirable investigative journalism and saving you from bankruptcy -- how sadly wrong I was in that crazy hope. If the Obs deal => Turquoise goes ahead it will be a totally different animal, surely dive deeply downmarket? Who'll read it, esp. if it goes behind paywall. Once again, Carole, saluting your courage and profound integrity.
You have articulated the deep dark fear I feel but have trouble speaking for fear it will materialise. It’s like being trapped in an Orwellian nightmare. How would we ever know the extent of this underhand takeover bid had you not explained it. Thank you for your bravery in speaking out after the purgatory you have been put through. I fear for our youth. My son will start university next year trusting the Guardian is the place to access accurate reporting, understanding about journalist like you… now the Guardian is the news, another conversation I never thought I would have with a 17 year old whose next 4 years look bleak enough. I will be writing to the Scott Trust. I will also be writing a play… because at the moment I still have the freedom to do so. Supporting you and your fellow Guardian journalists, whatever it takes.
The liberal Cable TV channel, MSNBC, now owned by NBC, has fallen into post-election hard times with viewers leaving and two hosts (married couple Joe Scarborough and Mika
Brzezinski) of a morning show, which has spent the last four years criticizing all things MAGA, flew to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring of King Chaos, just in case, you know, he might want to come for them. That was just before Elon Musk, which called the network "the utter scum of the earth" floated the question on how much it would cost to buy them.
I would look to see who is the real money behind the Observer acquisition.
Superbly said, Carole. I completely support everything you have said here, and everything you are doing. And I support all your colleagues making a stand with you. Tremendous respect for you.
To demonstrate my support, I make three pledges:
PLEDGE 1:
If The Scott Trust board votes to reject the Tortoise Media deal, AND provides an absolute assurance that it will retain The Observer and protect it alongside The Guardian for a minimum of 20 years, I will donate £100 to The Observer/Guardian.
PLEDGE 2:
If The Scott Trust Ltd can provide absolute assurance that despite being a Limited Company since October 2008 it can protect itself from takeover, I will subscribe to The Observer/Guardian on an ongoing basis.
PLEDGE 3:
If The Scott Trust board votes to accept the Tortoise Media deal, there will be no donation and no future subscription to The Observer/Guardian from me.
These pledges have also been made on Bluesky. If anyone reading this can see a way to improve or finesse these pledges, come and tell me on Bluesky.
I was also considering writing an open letter to the ST board. But I think that could be better done by someone who writes gooder than me. So I will also lend my support and name to any such letter.
Thanks once again for everything you're doing, Carole.
Well said. Sounds like personal egos doing a deal in a Tuscan villa. If the Trust is true to its values why doesn’t it sell it to the staff under an EOT - Employee Ownership Trust. It’s easy to value and has a revenue stream. Mutual Equity not Private Equity
That’s a great idea.
Surely the Trust has a duty to represent the interests of the paper. This means they must look at a range of offers and , as Trustees, look out for the interests of the main business asset….the journalists?
Exactly what I was thinking halfway through the article!
I sold my business to the employees under an EOT some years ago. The one challenge the staff might have then, is understanding that their pay (maybe any pay, not just bonuses) will depend upon profits. Then they’ll be fighting amongst themselves.
It could be a very weird version of Animal Farm they create…ironic when imagining the ghost of Orwell watching over these new worker-owners from his birthplace…
I think they could work out an innovative organisation. Patagonia has a good one.
How can the Telegraph value it at 10 times latest profit ( reported £3m profit and £30m valuation) . It’s no more than 3 or 5 times in the sector, but it all depends on how certain is that profit. I feel there’s a deal to be done…multiple ways to fund it but it’s over valued.
Can anyone tell me the details of the proposed deal?
Oh my God, Carole, this is appalling. Thank you for writing this piece and for your moral clarity. I am shocked that the GNM would behave this way, believing as I did that The Guardian & Observer are truly independent thanks to the Scott Trust. I’ve been a reader for 34 years, the last 12 of which have been spent as a paid subscriber in America where, as you correctly point out, journalism and truth itself are imperiled. How could GNM betray its staff and its readers at any time, much less NOW? It’s beyond the pale. I am so sorry this is happening, and you and your fellow journalists have my full support. Put another way, if the Observer is sold in this fashion, I can’t continue to support the Guardian as a reader and subscriber. Good luck and again, THANK YOU.
Hi Carole,
I’m glad you shared this.
I think being betrayed by the organisation you work for is one of the most difficult realities to grapple with as an employee.
There’s anger, grief, disbelief and it’s not a long walk from the chaos of uncertainty back to nostalgia.
Back to “remember when” journalistic fantasies about the pre-Trumpian times when the press was politically free and unbiased and without agenda.
If we’re speaking the truth to power:
Deep down, when we’re alone and quiet with our intuition, we know this time never existed, but it is a comforting cocoon to hang out in while we figure out how to reorient ourselves back to reality.
With all respect, the fact that you’re writing on
Substack kind of says it all.
The best thing any journalist can do now is learn from these mistakes and build something new.
The times of institutional reverence are over.
If you guys are so in the dark, that shows how little they care about you, so why waste your energy defending them? (I appreciate that’s not an easy thing to hear)
As a forty year old Brit with a Philosophy degree - The Guardian was always the paper of record for me.
But in the last five years, that’s changed.
They have lost their way in a haze of hubris and certainty thinking that the paper is old therefore it will endure.
The Guardian is outdated, unfocused and lacks courage.
I agree, any sale at this point is putting nails in the coffin and unless there’s a seismic shift in the organisation it won’t be around in ten years.
I wish you all the best and look forward to reading more of your writing Carole.
Kel
I do not understand the "need" to sell it to anyone at all. There is endowment to run it as is, and our subscriptions surely go a long way towards running costs as well.
As far as I can see this is a deal to prop up the failing business of a friend of the CEO. Perhaps the Board should consider removing the CEO.
I continue to pay for my subscription to the Guardian Weekly. Although I do not always find time to read very much of any issue since they fo not arrive each week.
I subscribe to the Guardian Weekly because it is a print newspaper.
I would read it if it arrived once a week. But I don't get it every week here in Peru. Instead I get a stack of four or five envelopes that arrive all together at the post office, whenever that happens, randomly.
It is unpredictable .
I assume that this happens because of the bulk mailing options that the Guardian has chosen to send its weekly magazine out to subscribers in foreign lands.
I continue to subscribe year after year because I promised my mother I would do so.
I'm 75 and before she died in 2012 she made me promise to keep subscribing to the Guardian because
"the world needs print newspapers".
Think about that.
"She made me promise ..." Something I find quite moving about that but I'm not sure why. Something to do with what Robert Jay Lifton called Death and the Continuity of Life and, as elaborated by Ernest Becker, Symbolic Immortality. But it's lovely.
What can we do to support the journalists at Guardian??
Hi,
There is a petition here at Change.org:
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-takeover-of-the-observer-newspaper
As a resident in trumplandia, your warnings are spot on. We are facing (and this not hyperbole) an existential threat—and not just to journalism as you eloquently and honestly describe—but to education, the arts, our financial systems (rigged against the vulnerable), social equity and Mother Nature (whose oil bounty will be raped and used to kill her off). Why: Capitalism has created its own Frankenstein's Monster that is only happy when it is hungry for more and will only remain happy if NOTHING (including our heroes in the press like you) stands in its greedy way. I am sharing your article on my Substack platform and other media outlets. It is going to be a bumpy and potential deadly next four years (unless you are an under-educated, white evangelical--then your participation in the trump-cult will satiate your greed and racism.) I have been reading the Guardian since 1970 and giving extra financial support for more than five years. That may have to be rescinded. Thank you for this important post. I think Mr Perry's suggestion is spot on...
As you point out the public has lost faith in the media. The only newspapers I have read over the last few years are the Guardian and Observer. I trust few news outlets so it has been important to pick out journalists with integrity, you being one of them. It’s clear to me why management wanted to hide their negotiations because scrutiny would have highlighted what lay beneath them. If everything had been open,, honest and transparent then the workforce would have been kept informed and have been part of the process. We have seen what happens when organisations act in the interests of cronies and lining their pockets and their own. It’s no longer about the best interests of the news outlet its valued journalists and the public who rely on the truth. Sadly it could lead to the ‘death’ of those outlets and as you say, once they are gone they are gone for good. We can only hope but I won’t hold my breath!
This feels so awful Carole and I hope that this wave of utterly vile times will change eventually and in no small part thanks to the brave and courageous actions of you and those that you work with. Solidarity mate
This is absolutely terrifying. I've been using domestic violence as a model to explain authoritarianism to people. An abuser goes after the thing you are most proud of, the thing that means the most to you. In the case of democracy, that's a free press. Remember, they don't see us people as anything more than pawns on a chessboard. The Guardian bragged about freedom, so now the sharks are going for blood. Thank you for sharing, Carole. There are many women who privately know what you're going through.
Really sorry to hear this, Carole. I came across the news of The Observer sale on Friday and I was shocked, but even more now reading your piece and the extent to which these conversations have been carried out in secrecy. It is all the more frustrating knowing that previous governments have prevented the recommendations of the Levenson Inquiry to be implemented on purpose and that the current PM has stated there are no plans to revive it, which The Guardian reported on https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jul/25/keir-starmer-confirms-he-has-no-plans-to-revive-second-stage-of-leveson-inquiry
For anyone who doubted the need for a regulatory press body, this is the sad confirmation of how instrumental it could have been in preventing this situation and protecting journalists. Terrible news indeed.
My Guardian-reading days go back to when Alastair Hetherington was in charge. Although I greatly admired both Peter Preston and Alan Rusbridger I can't help feeling that there's been a progressive decline in the quality of the paper since the 70s. (I don't distinguish, tho' I know I should, between the weekday and Sunday editions because these days I just read bits and pieces online simply because there are so many really good independent online news sources.) There remain of course individual journalists of world class calibre (Hello Carole!) and I read them at the G avidly, but in general it's so often a disappointing publication now. (See e.g. Jonathan Cook ... for one of the most articulate critics.)
Very worrying. It begs the question, who is Tortoise under the influence of? As a long time Guardian reader, since I could read! This angers me. I shall be writing to the Scott Trust
This extremely disturbing. I donated before and am happy to donate again if Guardian/Observer make more trouble for you, Carole. The current ed-in-chief has been a disaster from day one and she's all but ruining the G's reputation for integrity and honesty (mostly over Israel/Gaza but other issues too). I had naively thought that (secretly) the G/Obs was supporting you because of your admirable investigative journalism and saving you from bankruptcy -- how sadly wrong I was in that crazy hope. If the Obs deal => Turquoise goes ahead it will be a totally different animal, surely dive deeply downmarket? Who'll read it, esp. if it goes behind paywall. Once again, Carole, saluting your courage and profound integrity.
Across the pond, but one in humanity, my heart breaks for you and for us, in this existential crisis. W you in spirit Carole. May we be victorious. 💙
You have articulated the deep dark fear I feel but have trouble speaking for fear it will materialise. It’s like being trapped in an Orwellian nightmare. How would we ever know the extent of this underhand takeover bid had you not explained it. Thank you for your bravery in speaking out after the purgatory you have been put through. I fear for our youth. My son will start university next year trusting the Guardian is the place to access accurate reporting, understanding about journalist like you… now the Guardian is the news, another conversation I never thought I would have with a 17 year old whose next 4 years look bleak enough. I will be writing to the Scott Trust. I will also be writing a play… because at the moment I still have the freedom to do so. Supporting you and your fellow Guardian journalists, whatever it takes.
The liberal Cable TV channel, MSNBC, now owned by NBC, has fallen into post-election hard times with viewers leaving and two hosts (married couple Joe Scarborough and Mika
Brzezinski) of a morning show, which has spent the last four years criticizing all things MAGA, flew to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring of King Chaos, just in case, you know, he might want to come for them. That was just before Elon Musk, which called the network "the utter scum of the earth" floated the question on how much it would cost to buy them.
I would look to see who is the real money behind the Observer acquisition.
Superbly said, Carole. I completely support everything you have said here, and everything you are doing. And I support all your colleagues making a stand with you. Tremendous respect for you.
To demonstrate my support, I make three pledges:
PLEDGE 1:
If The Scott Trust board votes to reject the Tortoise Media deal, AND provides an absolute assurance that it will retain The Observer and protect it alongside The Guardian for a minimum of 20 years, I will donate £100 to The Observer/Guardian.
PLEDGE 2:
If The Scott Trust Ltd can provide absolute assurance that despite being a Limited Company since October 2008 it can protect itself from takeover, I will subscribe to The Observer/Guardian on an ongoing basis.
PLEDGE 3:
If The Scott Trust board votes to accept the Tortoise Media deal, there will be no donation and no future subscription to The Observer/Guardian from me.
These pledges have also been made on Bluesky. If anyone reading this can see a way to improve or finesse these pledges, come and tell me on Bluesky.
I was also considering writing an open letter to the ST board. But I think that could be better done by someone who writes gooder than me. So I will also lend my support and name to any such letter.
Thanks once again for everything you're doing, Carole.