Observer


FT.com: GMG faces quandary over online charging

Saturday, 19 September 2009, 09:05

"GMG and its sovereign body, the Scott Trust, have had heated internal debates, with senior staff questioning the level of investment in the lossmaking guardian.co.uk at a time of recession. … a person with knowledge of the business claimed on Friday the total net loss on the digital side since 2002 had been £20m, although no breakdown of those figures was provided. Annual revenue, all derived from digital advertising, had now risen to about £30m. … Senior staff told the FT that more people in both the editorial and commercial divisions of GNM were beginning to question the viability of the creed of free online content."

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Charlie Beckett: The Observer: why bin it?

Wednesday, 5 August 2009, 19:38

"[Those] campaigning to ’save’ The Observer would be better off thinking of new ways of reinventing the tradition of independent, liberal, intelligent journalism. They will have to accept that treasured (but neglected) editorial edifices are going to crumble when the bedrock is shaken."

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Times Online: A little war and Peace in The Guardian boardroom

Wednesday, 8 April 2009, 12:09

"The Guardian and The Observer lost £26.8 million before various one-off write-offs in the year to March 2008. The recession means that the figure will be worse this year. … All this has been historically propped up by other businesses, but profits at GMG's regional newspapers have collapsed by 85 per cent to less than £2 million … Radio, always marginally profitable, is hardly faring any better. … [and] whatever profit comes out of Auto Trader and Emap will not flow into GMG's coffers, because of the debt repayments, which does not help when the national newspapers burn through £83,000 or so a day."

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 Saturday, 29 March 2008, 09:46 0

"Guardian News & Media is looking to enroll all 800 of its staff journalists on a voluntary ‘digital awareness programme’ ahead of the publisher’s move to a new 24/7 integrated newsroom this autumn."

 Sunday, 6 January 2008, 09:48 0

Roger Alton recalls being banged out the Observer: "I am officially out of work for the first time in nearly 40 years. Being unemployed would be absolutely fine, I think, if you knew that, say, in nine months you’d land a dream gig somewhere."

 Sunday, 2 December 2007, 11:30 0

"On Thursday, a bookish civil servant called Derek Pasquill will be remanded by Westminster magistrates to the Crown Court to face six charges of breaking the Official Secrets Act." … over leaks to the Observer and New Statesman…

 Friday, 26 October 2007, 13:36 0

McCall: "… we have to be more overt about the Observer coming from the Guardian news and media stable. But we’re not going to have the Guardian-on-Sunday – the Observer is a strong print brand."

 Wednesday, 24 October 2007, 14:33 0

Roy Greenslade on the Gruadian-Observer thing: "Let’s deal first with this feud business. It is just not true. What there is, however, is a genuine concern – among the staffs of both papers, including senior executives – about how the eventual integration

 Sunday, 21 October 2007, 11:32 0

"The furore over the comment by James Watson, the Nobel prize for medicine winner who was one of the discoverers of the double helix structure of DNA, that Africans are less intelligent than Westerners, is turning into a debate over free speech."

 Sunday, 21 October 2007, 09:56 0

More on the Graun/Obs ‘feud’ over Nick Davies’ book in the Mail: Kamal Ahmed denies "sexing up" dodgy dossier. Roger Alton: "I’ve never thought that much of Davies. It’s bo****ks."

 Sunday, 21 October 2007, 09:50 0

Oooh. Gossip in the books section! Richard Brooks in the Sunday Times claims there is a feud between the Guardian and the Observer over Iraq, Nick Davies’ forthcoming book and Ben Goldacre’s criticism of the Obverver’s science reporting.

 Saturday, 20 October 2007, 09:17 0

Ben Goldacre on blogs and newspaper science journalism: "This transparency and referencing is a huge feature and something blogs share with academia, but not with mainstream media, who could always previously rely simply on their natural authority."

 Saturday, 29 September 2007, 09:51 0

Andrew Neil tells the FT that "newspaper owners should keep Sunday special or run “huge risks” of losing a unique part of their business".

 Wednesday, 25 July 2007, 08:10 0

Ben Goldacre’s recent criticism of the Observer was notable because it was so unusual; "self-criticism is not one of the UK media’s strongest suits," says Moore.

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