After 234 years of continuous publication in paper and ink, The Observer will finally have its first bespoke website from this Friday.
But Tortoise Media, the digital start-up which controversially acquired the venerable title in December, is aiming to surprise the UK news industry by reinvigorating interest in the age-old format of the printed newspaper. It’s a bold plan but many are unconvinced it will succeed, not least the large number of Observer staff who have preferred to take redundancy.
From this Sunday, the historic weekly will re-emerge with a different feel, including an upgrade in the quality of the paper it is printed on and a new look to its front page. Tens of thousands of extra copies will be given away outside art galleries, museums and food markets as a way of promoting the paper’s strengths in covering culture and cookery.
It seems counter-intuitive. Tortoise launched as an online publisher in 2019 and is primarily a podcast producer. It was embraced by Guardian Media Group (GMG), owner of The Observer from 1993, as a suitor that could create a digital future for the Sunday paper. The Observer had been marginalised by GMG’s focus on The Guardian brand. The sale proposal prompted a strike by Guardian and Observer journalists but was pushed through by the Scott Trust, GMG’s owner.
Tortoise promises £25m investment in The Observer and much of the initial spending is on the paper. The start-up is “putting a huge focus on the print edition”, says Richard Furness, co-CEO of Tortoise. “Everything we are doing is trying to make The Observer as premium as it possibly can be.”
If Tortoise achieves its vision it will be without half The Observer’s staff, who decided against joining the rescue plan. Departing journalists include star writers Sonia Sodha and Catherine Bennett. Jane Ferguson, editor of the New Review culture section, is leaving with most of her team. The restaurant critic Jay Rayner quit for the Financial Times. The investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr, a critic of the sale, was not offered a contract and set up on Substack.
When The i Paper visited The Observer’s new street-level newsroom, in a work share building near Oxford Street last week, candidates were arriving for interviews. Marquee signings include the new political editor Rachel Sylvester, who joins from The Times, and Rory Smith, who arrives from The Athletic to become football correspondent. New columnists include Sam Freedman and Philip Collins.
While the commitment to print is a legal obligation from an earlier contract signed by GMG, Tortoise hopes to create a high-end destination for advertisers. The Observer will print on 52gsm (grams per square metre) paper, heavier than that used by GMG. “That makes a difference in the legibility, it makes a difference in the photographic reproduction, it makes a difference in the tactility,” says Jon Hill, The Observer’s creative director. “It gives the whole paper a step up in the market.”
With The Observer’s circulation recently dipping below 100,000, Tortoise must avoid alienating readers with radical alterations. Hill, who referred to the new front page as a “front cover”, says the masthead will remain but “half a dozen” design changes will be obvious.
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Read MoreFurness, until recently The Guardian’s chief strategy officer, believes the investment puts The Observer in a “unique situation” within the sector. “I cannot think of another newsroom in the country that will be saying ‘How can we make our print edition a more premium destination?’”
Hill hopes the changes will “open the door for a lot more innovation for the entire media industry”, which has been focused on the digital transition.
Yet The Observer will die without an online future. It aims to emulate titles such as The Atlantic and The Spectator with a digital-print hybrid subscription model. But its website will initially not be paywalled because it desperately needs reader data to understand its audience.
The site will resemble Tortoise’s rhythm of low-volume and in-depth content, rather than competing with the BBC or The Telegraph. The Tortoise brand will go, but its tradition of inviting readers to “ThinkIn” discussions with journalists will continue. The new Observer app will not be ready until later this year.
In the editorial offices, The Observer’s founding principle from 1791 – “Unbiased by prejudice – uninfluenced by party” is pinned on the wall. The Tortoise slogan of “Slow news” still hangs in lights. But the plan to combine the two feels like a breathless rush. For the sake of a pillar of British journalism, let us hope it succeeds.
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