The Observer sells to Tortoise Media: It’s a ‘reckless and quasi suicidal move’ says Carole Cadwalladr

Read time: 3 minutes

In brief:

• The Observer, the world's oldest newspaper, is being sold to Tortoise Media, a six-year-old media startup.
• Tortoise has promised to invest in the paper and maintain its print edition, with the website moving behind a paywall.
• Journalist Carole Cadwalladr criticises the sale, arguing that it was conducted "in darkness" and that Tortoise lacks a viable business model, while some see the sale as a potential opportunity to revive the struggling newspaper.

What’s the story?

Journalists from The Observer and its sister newspaper The Guardian took to the streets to strike on Friday (6 December) to protest the sale of the world’s oldest newspaper, The Observer, to start-up media company Tortoise Media.

“We went out only to ask for a pause in which to look at other options,” Carole Cadwalladr, a journalist for The Observer, told Emily and Jon on today’s episode of The News Agents.

“But yet, whilst we were actually out on strike, they convened this emergency meeting and signed the deal.”

The deal will see the paper, which was founded in 1791, move into the hands of Tortoise - a six year old startup known for its long-form journalism which it refers to as ‘slow news’, rather than breaking news.

The company was founded by former BBC News director and The Times editor James Harding and former US ambassador to the United Kingdom Matthew Barzun.

Inside the paper, there are concerns over the relationship between the heads of The Guardian and Tortoise, the state of the buyer's finances and understanding of the media landscape.

But what does the deal look like and why are so many journalists, and readers, unhappy with it?

What does the deal look like?

The Observer’s readership figures have, like a lot of print media, been dwindling for years. In 2021, when it was selling around 136,000 copies a week, the paper stopped publishing audited figures.

Tortoise co-founder James Harding said of the deal; "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 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."

As part of the deal £25 million of investment will be pumped into the paper over five years - £20m from Tortoise itself and £5 million from The Scotts Trust, the paper’s parent company. Employees have been told there will be no staff job losses.

The paper will continue to publish a print edition on a Sunday, with the website going behind a paywall - although Cadwalladr questions whether a steady subscription to a paywall news platform is “viable”.

Why are so many of The Observer journalists angry about the sale?

Cadwalladr says the sale “doesn't feel like a very exciting prospect for anybody,” and that it “smells bad”.

There were reportedly a number of other parties interested in purchasing the iconic paper, but Cadwalladr says the deal was done “in darkness” - with none of the other undisclosed bidders being seriously considered for the purchase.

“It just feels like a reckless and quasi suicidal move to decide to undertake a deal in darkness to somebody who, it turns out, is a close friend of the CEO and refusing to look at any other possible routes for The Observer”.

The Guardian’s chief executive Anna Bateson has a long-standing friendship with Tortoise boss Harding, with the two reportedly holidaying together on another friend’s £15 million yacht.

But Jon Sopel points out that this could be an opportunity for the diminishing paper.

“It was being unloved by The Guardian and The Observer masthead will be once more important, although owned by Tortoise.

“Isn't this something that should be embraced, that gives The Observer a new go?”

Cadwalladr isn’t convinced that Tortoise is the company that should be given the opportunity to try, saying the company is “financially struggling” with “no apparent business model”.

“They're supposed to be a digital startup. On Twitter, they're lucky to get one or two retweets. They don't seem to understand this digital landscape in any shape or form and that just doesn't give us confidence”.

Moreover, she doesn’t believe their £25 million investment is enough to make a go of it, saying it “doesn't seem like an awful lot of money” when you consider staff, tech, ad and transition costs.

Tortoise have said in doing the deal "The Observer will become a thriving 21st-century news business”.

Cadwalladr says it is sowing “the seeds of its own impending implosion here”.

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.