Journalists set to strike over the future of the Observer. Don’t cross the digital picket line
The future status of The Observer remains to be determined. A recent meeting of the Scott Trust that runs the Guardian and Observer did not make a decision. The Guardian wants to sell The Observer to Tortoise. It’s a relatively small media company run by former Times Editor & BBC News Editor James Harding. The political fit looks decent but might be better with Dale Vince the climate campaigner who has said he will bid if Tortoise does not proceed.
However Guardian and Observer journalists- NUJ members- have hardly been engaged in the process and plan days of strike action on 4th and 5th December, which I will certainly fully support. Quite how the Observer’s operations can be disentangled from the Guardian is unclear. If journalists are TUPEd to Tortoise it’s interesting to note that Harding has told the Sunday Times (24th November) that he plans new sports and business departments. So redundancies seem likely and redundancies- Tortoise has had three rounds- do seem to be something its good at.
As a trade union officer I sometimes grapple with the business plans of very large companies. The plan is for the company, my interest is in the jobs of union members and trying to make sure they are protected.
Harding tells the Sunday Times that Tortoise will stop the Observer from disappearing. Indeed in recent times left of centre Sunday papers, from the News on Sunday to the Sunday Correspondent (yes the one that shut after publishing a picture of me in the bath) and the Independent on Sunday have gone.
However according to Observer supporters its print sale is 106,000 and it is turning a decent profit. The reason for the Guardian’s urge to get rid is not transparent. However the Guardian is really running a global website- with huge reach- with a UK print edition tacked on. The Observer perhaps rather gets in the way of fully promoting the brand. Liberal readers in the huge US market have heard of the Guardian, but the Observer?
Here too lies a so far unarticulated issue with the Tortoise business model. The Observer print edition will continue and there will be a new Observer website behind a paywall. Who will be paying to read it? Does Harding imagine the Guardian will just do nothing on a Sunday, with its free access site? I’m sure it won’t produce a Sunday print edition. I strongly suspect a Sunday web edition will appear, whereas now that is (sort of ) Observer focused.
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