These have been a traumatic couple of months in the life of The Guardian. First, Donald Trump swept to power, prompting editor Katherine Viner to offer counselling to staff. Then, many of her journalists went on strike for two days, protesting the sale of The Guardian’s sister newspaper, The Observer to Tortoise Media. The deal was approved in December by the titles’ owner, Guardian Media Group and its parent, the Scott Trust. Now, one of the Observer’s leading journalists, Carole Cadwalladr, has claimed that more than 70 journalists have been “given notice” on their contracts following the sale of the newspaper. Cadwalladr has said her contract is to be cancelled without a pay-off after 19 years working at the publication.
It’s certainly been a difficult time for staff of both titles. Having staked its all, editorially, on defeating Trump, who could not be more diametrically opposed to The Guardian, the paper was bound to have egg on its face. Its journalists were crushed. Of course, there was another way of viewing Trump’s win, which was that for the Left-wing title, it presented a tremendous commercial opportunity. During a similarly difficult time for The Guardian — the reign of Margaret Thatcher — the newspaper enjoyed a boom period. When Thatcher won the 1979 election, its average sale was 379,000; by the time she quit in 1990 it was 434,000. With that also came an expanded publication, one that was firing on all cylinders and possessing a passionate investigative purpose.
