The Observer

• 1. Introduction

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  The Observer hit the streets of London for the first time on the 4th of December 1791, and it has never missed a Sunday since. That makes it the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, a record it still holds more than two centuries later. But longevity alone does not explain what makes this paper remarkable. From its very first months, The Observer was caught up in financial panic, political manipulation, and editorial compromise. It survived those crises, then outlasted wars, corporate sell-offs, and digital upheaval. Along the way it gave a platform to George Orwell, published a journalist who was executed abroad for alleged spying, and became the first British paper to be banned in Egypt for a cartoon. What kind of institution survives all of that? And what does it mean when, in December 2024, after more than two centuries in one form, the paper changed hands yet again?

• 2. A Troubled Birth

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  W. S. Bourne launched The Observer believing it would make him wealthy. Within months, he was drowning in debts of nearly £1,600. That gap between expectation and reality would shape the paper's entire first chapter. Bourne tried to sell the title to the government to cut his losses, but the government refused to buy it outright. His brother, described in accounts as a wealthy businessman, then stepped in with his own offer. The government turned that down too, but struck a different kind of deal. It agreed to subsidise the paper in exchange for influence over its editorial content.

  The consequences were immediate. The Observer turned sharply against progressive reformers of the day, targeting figures including Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett, and Joseph Priestley by name. The paper that had claimed editorial independence in its early issues was now, in practice, a voice shaped by government interest. In 1807, the Bourne brothers finally stepped back, naming Lewis Doxat as the new editor. Seven years later, they sold the paper entirely to William Innell Clement, a proprietor who already owned a number of other publications.

  Government subsidies continued under Clement's ownership. By 1819, roughly 23,000 copies of the paper were distributed each week, but around 10,000 of those were given away as "specimen copies." Postmen were paid to deliver them to lawyers, doctors, and what the records call "gentlemen of the town." Clement held on to the paper until his death in 1852. After editor Lewis Doxat retired in 1857, Clement's heirs sold The Observer to Joseph Snowe, who took on the editorship at the same time.

• 3. The Beer and Astor Eras

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  Julius Beer, a wealthy businessman, bought The Observer in 1870 and brought in Edward Dicey as editor. Dicey's work succeeded in reviving the paper's circulation during a period when it had been struggling. When Beer died in 1880, ownership passed to his son Frederick, who had little interest in running the newspaper and left Dicey in the editor's chair until 1889.

  What followed was one of the more unusual episodes in British press history. After a brief spell under Henry Duff Traill, Frederick Beer's wife Rachel took over the editorship in 1891. Rachel Beer came from the Sassoon family, and in 1893 she combined the role with the editorship of The Sunday Times, a newspaper she had also purchased. She ran both papers simultaneously for thirteen years. When Frederick died in 1903, the paper was sold to the newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe.

  Northcliffe's tenure ended through a disagreement with his own editor. James Louis Garvin had been editing The Observer and clashed with Northcliffe over the question of Imperial Preference, a policy debate that divided British politics at the time. Northcliffe gave Garvin the option of finding a new buyer for the paper, and Garvin approached William Waldorf Astor in 1911. Northcliffe sold the paper to Astor, who then transferred ownership to his son Waldorf Astor, the 2nd Viscount Astor, four years later. The elder Astor had agreed to the purchase on one condition: that Garvin also agree to edit the Pall Mall Gazette, another Astor family property.

  Garvin departed as editor in 1942. Ownership passed to Waldorf's sons in 1948, and David Astor took over as editor. He held the role for 27 years, during which he turned The Observer into a trust-owned newspaper. Among the writers he employed were George Orwell, Paul Jennings, and C. A. Lejeune. By 1977, the Astors sold the ailing paper to Atlantic Richfield, a US oil company, which then sold it to Lonrho plc in 1981.

• 4. Journalists in Danger

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  Farzad Bazoft was a journalist working for The Observer when he was executed in Iraq in 1990. The Iraqi authorities charged him with spying, a verdict that was disputed internationally. The story did not end with his death. In 2003, The Observer tracked down and interviewed the Iraqi colonel who had arrested and interrogated Bazoft. That colonel said he was personally convinced that Bazoft was not a spy.

  The paper's difficulties with governments extended beyond Iraq. In February 2008, Egypt banned The Observer from circulation after it published cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The ban placed the paper among the relatively rare instances of a British national newspaper being prohibited in another country specifically over visual editorial content.

  These episodes point to a recurring pattern across the paper's history. From its very first years, when government subsidies shaped its editorial line, to the execution of one of its correspondents abroad, The Observer has operated in spaces where journalism collides directly with political power. The paper's archive, which runs from 1791 to 2003 and became available online in November 2007, holds a record of those collisions across more than two centuries.

• 5. Guardian Years and Awards

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  The Observer became part of the Guardian Media Group in June 1993, after a rival acquisition bid from The Independent was rejected. From that point it operated as a sister paper to The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly. The two papers shared more than an ownership structure: on Sunday the 8th of January 2006, The Observer followed The Guardian and converted to the Berliner format, a smaller, squarer page size that had been used across continental Europe.

  The British Press Awards named The Observer the National Newspaper of the Year for 2006. The paper was awarded the same title again at the 2007 British Press Awards, a back-to-back recognition that reflected well on the period under editor Roger Alton, who had led the paper since 1998. Alton stepped down at the end of 2007 and was replaced by his deputy, John Mulholland.

  The Observer's supplements also built a strong awards record. Observer Sport Monthly won "Regular Supplement of the Year" in 2001. Observer Food Monthly won the same award in 2006 and again in 2012. The paper's journalists earned recognition across a range of categories too. Jay Rayner won Critic of the Year in 2005, Philip French in 2008, and Rowan Moore in 2013. Lynn Barber won Interviewer of the Year in 2001, a prize that Sean O'Hagan took the following year. In September 2013, the paper launched Observer Tech Monthly, a science and technology section that won the Grand Prix at the 2014 Newspaper Awards. By July 2021, Ofcom data showed that 23% of consumers who used websites or apps for news visited The Guardian's platform, which also hosted The Observer's online content.

• 6. The Sale to Tortoise

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  In September 2024, The Guardian revealed that it was in talks to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media, a news website. The news prompted a strong reaction from inside the Guardian Media Group itself. Journalists voted to condemn the sale and passed a vote of no confidence in the newspaper's owners, accusing the leadership of betrayal. Their specific concern was that the deal could harm the financial security of staff members.

  Despite 48 hours of strikes by journalists, the deal was agreed in principle on the 6th of December 2024. The agreement included the Scott Trust taking a significant stock position in Tortoise Media as part of the transaction. The final sale price was not disclosed publicly. Guardian Media and Tortoise Media closed the sale on the 18th of December 2024.

  The transition unfolded in stages. On the 22nd of April 2025, the formal handover took place. A new website launched on the 25th of April 2025, and the first print edition under Tortoise ownership appeared on the 27th of April 2025. Lucy Rock, previously the paper's deputy editor, was named the new editor, with the title editor (print), reporting to James Harding, founder, editor-in-chief, and major shareholder of Tortoise Media. Rock retired in September 2025, leaving Harding in the editor-in-chief role.

  Less than a year after the acquisition, in March 2026, The Observer announced a programme of voluntary redundancies across a workforce of around 140 staff. The move was reported to reflect continuing challenges around the paper's digital strategy and financial sustainability, raising fresh questions about what the world's oldest Sunday newspaper looks like in the decade ahead.