One of the Observer’s leading journalists has branded the Guardian Media Group as “monopolist” after claiming more than 70 journalists have been “given notice” on their contracts following the sale of the newspaper.
Carole Cadwalladr, who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, has said her contract is to be cancelled without a pay-off after 19 years working at the publication.
It follows a deal being signed last week for the Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper and sister title to the Guardian newspaper, to be sold to Tortoise Media by GMG, as part of plans to shake up the Sunday publication with a new website and daily digital content.
Ms Cadwalladr claimed on X that “freelance” and “casual” staff had been offered to “go to Tortoise on a one-year contract, with no guarantees after, or bye bye.”
She added: “There’s no voluntary redundancy or any other recompense. The Guardian has been my main source of income for 19 years but for others it’s even longer.
”The Guardian’s business model relies on a highly casualised workforce with no employment rights. That’s existed without serious collective challenge because in the UK journalism ecosystem, it’s a monopolist. It’s the only ‘liberal’ mainstream news org & there’s been nowhere else to go.”
She said she had been told the cancelling of contracts affected “at least 72 staff, 30 ‘casuals’, 43 ‘freelancers’.”
She said on X in an earlier post: “To be clear, I’m not being singled out: fully one third of Guardian & Observer staff are on either zero hours or sham ‘freelance’ contracts. The Guardian issued notice on all these this week.”
The Standard reached out to GMG who declined to comment. But it is understood no staff are to lose their jobs but new contracts to replace existing ones are legally required after the sale of the Observer to Tortoise.
When the sale of the Observer was approved earlier this month Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of Guardian News and Media, said: “I recognise how unsettling this period has been for Observer staff but we’re confident we have agreed the best possible way forward for the title’s journalists, its readers and the future of both the Observer and the Guardian.
“It is a model that will see investment in journalism and journalists, enshrines the Scott Trust’s values in the Observer’s future, and protects the Observer and Guardian’s ability to continue to produce trusted, liberal journalism.”
Tortoise will take on all staff members who wish to stay with The Observer, which will be separated from its sister paper The Guardian, it was reported last week.
The sale was confirmed despite two 48-hour strikes at The Guardian and The Observer in protest over the move, the first industrial action at The Guardian for more than 50 years.
Following the announcement of the Observer’s sale Ms Cadwalladr told LBC the decision was a “total betrayal of everything the organisation stands for”.
The veteran reporter added that she believed The Observer was being “set up for failure”.
She added: “Why would The Guardian want a competitive threat at the weekend? Why would The Guardian want another new organisation to potentially take its reader revenues, to take its ad sales?”
Tortoise plans to combine its newsroom with that of The Observer’s 233-year-old newspaper to create a daily digital Observer, including a new website, podcasts, video content and newsletters.
Tortoise has pledged to invest £25 million in The Observer, with a commitment to continue printing on a Sunday.
The Scott Trust, the Guardian’s owner, confirmed it would join new and existing investors by committing £5m into Tortoise Media as part of an overall £25m investment in the Observer.
The first edition of The Observer under Tortoise ownership is expected to be published in the spring.
Tortoise previously said it promised to meet all key employment terms for any members of staff, as well as freelancers and contributors, who wish to keep working for the company.
Tortoise was founded in 2018 by former BBC executive and The Times editor James Harding and Matthew Barzun, a former US ambassador to the UK.
The criticism is the latest the Guardian Group has faced in recent years.
Interviewer Hadley Freeman in 2022 quit the Guardian for The Times and alleged she was blocked from writing about trans issues.
In November 2020 Suzanne Moore also quit the Guardian and said when she had attempted to write “about female experience belonging to people with female bodies… it is always subbed out”.
Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Viner said in 2023 she did not “recognise that characterisation” of events leading up to the journalists’ departure.
Earlier this year food critic Jay Rayner quit The Observer for the Financial Times. He subsequently fired off a broadside at Ms Viner over alleged antisemitism in the newsroom.
He wrote: “For years now being Jewish, however non-observant, and working for the company has been uncomfortable, at times excruciating.
“Viner likes to deny it but there are anti-Semites on the daily’s staff and she has not had the courage to face them down.”
The alleged failure to stamp out antisemitism was reported to be a factor in Mr Rayner’s decision to leave the newspaper.
A Guardian spokesman said last month in response to the allegations: “We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously. The Guardian Media Group has a zero tolerance approach to antisemitism and all forms of prejudice and discrimination. We have robust processes in place. When any allegations are made, we investigate them and deal with them swiftly.