Thank you Carole for what you and your journalist colleagues have done, and continue to do. We are all in your debt, and you have my full support in taking action.
I am currently a subscriber to Guardian online, and rely on it's independent reporting, a rare thing. However I may not be for much longer depending on the outcome of the current dispute, and fear I will be one of many.
Please forgive my ignorance, but what is The Power? I'm asking as a deeply unhappy, lifelong GuardianandObserver reader. When I try searching, I keep finding an electricity sector publication...
Of course I agree, I've read the Guardian and Observer (long before it hitched to the former) all my life. But Carole, what do you say to e.g. Jonathan Cook, MediaLens whose crits of the G's shortcomings are sadly justified. I remember the great days of the Observer and with one or two exceptions, and you're gloriously one of them, it's simply not the paper it was. The G has been steadily going downhill since Alastair Hetherington's days, despite the clever Preston's and Rusbridger's efforts. That's why so many, journalists and readers, have switched to independent blogs/media. I still of course read the G and the O but my subscription money now goes elsewhere. I still hope you win but the G needs a new editor. As they say, nothing is for ever.
I can't help falling in love with this writing. Might have something to do with playing Billy Bragg's song (included last here) as I read it, but I've got somewhat emotional absorbing it all. Beautiful, dark, but dark because it's full of truth. Thank you, Carole, and all the people you have mentioned in this outstanding and powerful piece. I somehow feel connected to all of them, and will use this as the seed to explore their work. Asif's film first, as it sounds like it was made for me.
I will continue to subscribe to the Guardian. It might need an internal revolution against the financiers and I want to be the first to read its success. However I have noted that Bylines is continuing to make great inroads into local important Journalism so will see who keeps my attention and my subscription. In the meantime please keep fighting the influence of vast wealth and its ability to play the tunes that many lazy or too busy angry knee jerk reactors keep spouting.
I'm sharing this superb essay far and wide, along with your interview with the talented filmmaker of 2073, the must-see film of the year.
We're in Northern California, but have been reading everything you write, Carole, for over a decade.
Like many, we have suspended our monthly support to the Guardian/Observer until the Scott Trust and GMG snap out of it and do right by the journalists we know and trust.
Carole, I totally endorse your strike but I wish you and others had shown the same appetite for defending those journalists being arrested and threatened with the Terrorism Act for covering Israel's genocide in Gaza.
I did wonder if Gaza will be mentioned at all in the film. I notice too often people hold up Malcolm X in their resistance to authoritarian discourse but often leave out his staunch support for Palestinian rights and justice.
Have you read the Tortoise article on Saudi Arabia and it’s arts funding ? For a start it wasn’t their top article on their app of which you claim and that I’m a subscriber . Furthermore it references how many people it has executed this year so far - 303 . Hardly giving the monstrous Saudi government a clean bill of health and avoiding their reprehensible human rights record .
You also repeat the surprising notion that Tortoise is nothing more than a vanity project . Again I find this fails when under scrutiny when one looks at their investigative journalism record notable most recently on Elon Musk .
I would also like to state iam a admirer of yours Carole for your courage and integrity in the face of unimaginable challenges and stress that you faced and how you have managed to negotiate that .
I used to subscribe to the Guardian with its collection of excellent journalists and articles on a wide range of subjects . However it’s disgusting treatment of Suzanne Moore put paid to that and hopefully Tortoise under the excellent leadership of James Harding will bring some much needed sanity back to the organisation .
Thank you Carole for what you and your journalist colleagues have done, and continue to do. We are all in your debt, and you have my full support in taking action.
I am currently a subscriber to Guardian online, and rely on it's independent reporting, a rare thing. However I may not be for much longer depending on the outcome of the current dispute, and fear I will be one of many.
I am pleased to say that I have cancelled my annual support payment to the Guardian. I'll probably subscribe to The Power instead.
Snap.
Me too!
Please forgive my ignorance, but what is The Power? I'm asking as a deeply unhappy, lifelong GuardianandObserver reader. When I try searching, I keep finding an electricity sector publication...
Of course I agree, I've read the Guardian and Observer (long before it hitched to the former) all my life. But Carole, what do you say to e.g. Jonathan Cook, MediaLens whose crits of the G's shortcomings are sadly justified. I remember the great days of the Observer and with one or two exceptions, and you're gloriously one of them, it's simply not the paper it was. The G has been steadily going downhill since Alastair Hetherington's days, despite the clever Preston's and Rusbridger's efforts. That's why so many, journalists and readers, have switched to independent blogs/media. I still of course read the G and the O but my subscription money now goes elsewhere. I still hope you win but the G needs a new editor. As they say, nothing is for ever.
I can't help falling in love with this writing. Might have something to do with playing Billy Bragg's song (included last here) as I read it, but I've got somewhat emotional absorbing it all. Beautiful, dark, but dark because it's full of truth. Thank you, Carole, and all the people you have mentioned in this outstanding and powerful piece. I somehow feel connected to all of them, and will use this as the seed to explore their work. Asif's film first, as it sounds like it was made for me.
I will continue to subscribe to the Guardian. It might need an internal revolution against the financiers and I want to be the first to read its success. However I have noted that Bylines is continuing to make great inroads into local important Journalism so will see who keeps my attention and my subscription. In the meantime please keep fighting the influence of vast wealth and its ability to play the tunes that many lazy or too busy angry knee jerk reactors keep spouting.
I'm sharing this superb essay far and wide, along with your interview with the talented filmmaker of 2073, the must-see film of the year.
We're in Northern California, but have been reading everything you write, Carole, for over a decade.
Like many, we have suspended our monthly support to the Guardian/Observer until the Scott Trust and GMG snap out of it and do right by the journalists we know and trust.
Carole, I totally endorse your strike but I wish you and others had shown the same appetite for defending those journalists being arrested and threatened with the Terrorism Act for covering Israel's genocide in Gaza.
I did wonder if Gaza will be mentioned at all in the film. I notice too often people hold up Malcolm X in their resistance to authoritarian discourse but often leave out his staunch support for Palestinian rights and justice.
Have you read the Tortoise article on Saudi Arabia and it’s arts funding ? For a start it wasn’t their top article on their app of which you claim and that I’m a subscriber . Furthermore it references how many people it has executed this year so far - 303 . Hardly giving the monstrous Saudi government a clean bill of health and avoiding their reprehensible human rights record .
You also repeat the surprising notion that Tortoise is nothing more than a vanity project . Again I find this fails when under scrutiny when one looks at their investigative journalism record notable most recently on Elon Musk .
I would also like to state iam a admirer of yours Carole for your courage and integrity in the face of unimaginable challenges and stress that you faced and how you have managed to negotiate that .
I used to subscribe to the Guardian with its collection of excellent journalists and articles on a wide range of subjects . However it’s disgusting treatment of Suzanne Moore put paid to that and hopefully Tortoise under the excellent leadership of James Harding will bring some much needed sanity back to the organisation .
Love Billy!
The quote about needing to fight was one often used by the late Bob Crowe, General Secretary of the RMT. There was power in Bob Crow’s union.
Great post. Thanks.