Latest news with #KathViner
New European
05-05-2025
- Business
- New European
Is it the Guardian In Name Only?
Her absence has done little, though, to tackle the simmering resentments over the sale. A sizable faction within the newsroom still want its union to hold a formal no-confidence ballot in Viner (the union has already voted 'no confidence' in the newspaper's board). But this has become mired in internal conflicts over tactics. Not surprisingly, Guardian editor-in- chief Kath Viner was conspicuous by her absence when departing Observer staff said their final goodbyes last month. But staff say this was not to avoid awkward exchanges over her part in the Sunday paper's controversial sale. Viner is now rarely sighted in the office, nor does she turn up to handle the paper's morning conference meetings – leaving those instead to her affable deputy, Owen Gibson. Union committee members would prefer not to hold a no-confidence vote, believing instead that they can secure governance reforms, including an extra board seat for staff members, if they hold off. Disgruntled staff think the committee is squandering the union's moment of maximum leverage for the vague promise of meaningless concessions. Those staff fear that if Viner succeeds in being elevated to the new post of global executive editor, she will have formalised the new arrangement in which she takes home £500,000-plus a year without having to interact with the newsroom – and so want to pressure the board before that's official. If they miss the window, the concessions may disappear as quickly as Viner herself. Some have even started referring cryptically to the future of belonging to 'Gino' – a coinage apparently stolen from US politics, standing for 'Guardian In Name Only'.
New European
07-04-2025
- Business
- New European
Observer's chaotic new owners prepare for launch
This is accompanied by much busy-ness across both organisations, albeit with very different tones. Tortoise is said to be chaotic, trying to build a website and start printing its first newspaper, not to mention preparing the transfer of the Observer's online content and a million other small tasks. Preparations to transfer ownership of the Observer, the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, from the Guardian Media Group to Tortoise are in their frenetic final stages, with the first edition of the newspaper's new era expected later this month. While the grand retooling and relaunch of the Observer is months away, much is having to be done beforehand. Some of the first hires have been made – including poaching Rachel Sylvester from the Times to serve as political editor – and a steady stream of interested candidates can be seen heading into and out of the offices. The mood inside the Observer's home in King's Place is somewhat more sombre. The paper's hacks had been offered voluntary redundancy on generous terms if they didn't want to make the jump to Tortoise, and a little over a third of its team had taken it. But as the reality became clear, more and more Observer journalists seemed to get cold feet. Voluntary redundancy was reopened not once, but twice, and now fewer than half of the paper's team is expected to join the new Tortoise era. Most of those going fear for the Observer's future – at a send-off party for the paper's current iteration, one posed for a photobooth picture with a prop gun in her mouth – but largely hope against their expectation that the purchase will succeed, and bear Tortoise little ill-will. The same can't be said for their feeling towards Guardian editor-in-chief Kath Viner and the Scott Trust, who oversaw the Observer's sale. While tensions have cooled to a simmer after the strikes around Christmas, there is considerable lingering ill-will towards the bosses that spills well beyond the soon-to-be-gone Observer. But Viner, per the latest newsroom rumours, may not be around for too long to worry about them. She is expected to restructure the Guardian soon after the Observer sale is finalised, shedding its UK roots and becoming a global executive editor overseeing three nominal equals heading the UK, US and Australian newsrooms – but the new rumour is that she'll now do so from New York, where few of the American journalists have even heard of the Observer…
