British weekly newspaper
"Observer (newspaper)" redirects here. For the online-only newspaper, see
Observer.com
.
The Observer
is a British newspaper
published on Sundays
. It is a sister paper to
The Guardian
and
The Guardian Weekly
, having been acquired by their parent company,
Guardian Media Group Limited
, in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
[5]
History
[
edit
]
Origins
[
edit
]
The first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, was the world's first
Sunday newspaper
.
[6]
Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editorial content. As a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as
Thomas Paine
,
Francis Burdett
and
Joseph Priestley
.
[
citation needed
]
19th century
[
edit
]
In 1807, the brothers decided to relinquish editorial control, naming
Lewis Doxat
as the new editor. Seven years later, the brothers sold
The Observer
to
William Innell Clement
, a newspaper proprietor who owned a number of publications. The paper continued to receive government subsidies during this period; in 1819, of the approximately 23,000 copies of the paper distributed weekly, approximately 10,000 were given away as "specimen copies", distributed by postmen who were paid to deliver them to "lawyers, doctors, and gentlemen of the town."
[7]
Clement maintained ownership of
The Observer
until his death in 1852.
[
citation needed
]
After Doxat retired in 1857, Clement's heirs sold the paper to Joseph Snowe, who also took over the editor's chair.
In 1870, wealthy businessman
Julius Beer
bought the paper and appointed
Edward Dicey
as editor, whose efforts succeeded in reviving circulation. Though Beer's son Frederick became the owner upon Julius's death in 1880, he had little interest in the newspaper and was content to leave Dicey as editor until 1889.
[
citation needed
]
Henry Duff Traill
took over the editorship after Dicey's departure, only to be replaced in 1891 by Frederick's wife,
Rachel Beer
,
[6]
of the
Sassoon family
. She remained as editor for thirteen years, combining it in 1893 with the editorship of
The Sunday Times
, a newspaper that she had also bought.
[8]
20th century
[
edit
]
Upon Frederick's death in 1903, the paper was purchased by the newspaper magnate
Lord Northcliffe
. Northcliffe sold the paper to
William Waldorf Astor
in 1911, who transferred ownership to his son
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor
four years later. Garvin's departed as editor in 1942.
[
citation needed
]
Ownership passed to Waldorf's sons in 1948, with David taking over as editor. He remained in the position for 27 years, during which time he turned it into a trust-owned newspaper employing, among others,
George Orwell
,
Paul Jennings
and
C. A. Lejeune
. In 1977, the Astors sold the ailing newspaper to US oil giant
Atlantic Richfield
(now called ARCO) who sold it to
Lonrho plc
in 1981.
[
citation needed
]
It became part of the
Guardian Media Group
in June 1993, after a rival acquisition bid by
The Independent
was rejected.
[9]
Farzad Bazoft
, a journalist for
The Observer
, was executed in
Iraq
in 1990 on charges of spying. In 2003,
The Observer
interviewed the Iraqi colonel who had arrested and interrogated Bazoft and who was convinced that Bazoft was not a spy.
[10]
21st century
[
edit
]
On 27 February 2005,
The Observer
Blog
[11]
was launched. In addition to the weekly
Observer Magazine
colour supplement
which is still present every Sunday, for several years each issue of
The Observer
came with a different free monthly magazine. These magazines had the titles
Observer Sport Monthly
,
Observer Music Monthly
,
Observer Woman
and
Observer Food Monthly
.
Content from
The Observer
is included in
The Guardian Weekly
for an international readership.
The Observer
followed its daily partner
The Guardian
and converted to
Berliner
format on Sunday 8 January 2006.
[12]
[13]
The Observer
was awarded the
National Newspaper of the Year
at the
British Press Awards
2007.
[14]
Editor
Roger Alton
stepped down at the end of 2007, and was replaced by his deputy,
John Mulholland
.
[15]
In early 2010, the paper was restyled. An article on the paper's website previewing the new version stated that "The News section, which will incorporate Business and personal finance, will be home to a new section, Seven Days, offering a complete round-up of the previous week's main news from Britain and around the world, and will also focus on more analysis and comment."
[16]
In July 2021,
Ofcom
announced that
The Guardian
continued to be the UK's most widely used newspaper website and app for news and had increased its audience share by 1% over the preceding year. 23% of consumers, who used websites or apps for news, used
The Guardian
, which also hosts
The Observer
online content.
[
when?
]
This compared to 22% for the
Daily Mail
website.
[17]
Supplements and features
[
edit
]
After the paper was rejuvenated in early 2010, the main paper came with only a small number of supplements ?
Sport
,
The Observer Magazine
,
The New Review
and
The New York Times International Weekly
, an 8-page supplement of articles selected from
The New York Times
that has been distributed with the paper since 2007. Every four weeks the paper includes
The Observer Food Monthly
magazine, and in September 2013 it launched
Observer Tech Monthly
,
[18]
a science and technology section which won the Grand Prix at the 2014 Newspaper Awards.
[19]
Previously, the main paper had come with a larger range of supplements including
Sport
,
Business & Media
,
Review
,
Escape
(a travel supplement),
The Observer Magazine
and various special interest monthlies, such as
The Observer Food Monthly
,
Observer Women monthly
which was launched in 2006,
[20]
Observer Sport Monthly
and
The Observer Film Magazine
.
The Newsroom
[
edit
]
The Observer
and its sister newspaper
The Guardian
operate a visitor centre in London called The Newsroom. It contains their archives, including bound copies of old editions, a photographic library and other items such as diaries, letters and notebooks. This material may be consulted by members of the public. The Newsroom also mounts temporary exhibitions and runs an educational programme for schools.
In November 2007,
The Observer
and
The Guardian
made their archives available over the Internet.
[21]
The current extent of the archives available are 1791 to 2000 for
The Observer
and 1821 to 2000 for
The Guardian
. They will eventually go up to 2003. In 2023, copies from 2004 onwards and gaps were to be filled to latest edition.
Bans
[
edit
]
The paper was banned in
Egypt
in February 2008 for publishing cartoons of the
Prophet Muhammed
.
[22]
Editors
[
edit
]
Photographers
[
edit
]
Awards
[
edit
]
The Observer
was named the
British Press Awards
National Newspaper of the Year
for 2006.
[25]
Its supplements have three times won "Regular Supplement of the Year" (
Sport Monthly
, 2001;
Food Monthly
, 2006, 2012).
[25]
Observer
journalists have won a range of British Press Awards, including
[25]
- "Interviewer of the Year" (
Lynn Barber
, 2001;
Sean O'Hagan
, 2002;
Rachel Cooke
, 2005; Chrissy Iley
(freelance for
Observer
and
Sunday Times
magazine)
, 2007)
- "Critic of the Year" (
Jay Rayner
, 2005;
Philip French
, 2008;
Rowan Moore
, 2013)
- "Food & Drink Writer of the Year" (John Carlin, 2003)
- "Travel Writer of the Year" (Tim Moore, 2004)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Graham Snowdon,
"Inside the 19 January edition"
,
The Guardian Weekly
, 16 January 2018 (page visited on 19 January 2018).
- ^
Matt Wells (15 October 2004).
"World writes to undecided voters"
.
The Guardian
. UK
. Retrieved
13 July
2008
.
- ^
Katwala, Sunder (7 February 2012).
"The monarchy is more secure than ever"
.
The New Statesman
. Retrieved
14 September
2022
.
- ^
Tobitt, Charlotte; Majid, Aisha (25 January 2023).
"National press ABCs: December distribution dive for freesheets Standard and City AM"
.
Press Gazette
. Retrieved
15 February
2023
.
- ^
"The Observer under review"
.
BBC News
. 4 August 2009
. Retrieved
27 March
2010
.
- ^
a
b
c
"History of the Observer"
.
The Guardian
. 6 June 2002.
- ^
Dennis Griffiths
(ed.),
The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422?1992
, London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 159.
- ^
"Ad Info ? Observer History"
. 17 September 2009. Archived from the original on 17 September 2009.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
Leapman, Michael (15 May 1993).
"New editor chosen for 'Observer': 'Guardian' deputy to succeed Trelford"
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
22 October
2023
.
- ^
Vulliamy, Ed (18 May 2003).
"Writer hanged by Iraq 'no spy'
"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
22 October
2023
.
- ^
Observer blog
, accessed 27 February 2007.
- ^
Claire Cozens,
"Observer announces relaunch date"
,
The Observer
, 19 December 2005; accessed 27 February 2007.
- ^
The archive ? summary of holdings
, accessed 27 February 2007.
- ^
Ltd, Magstar.
"Press Awards"
.
www.pressawards.org.uk
. Archived from
the original
on 2 April 2016.
- ^
Stephen Brook (3 January 2008).
"Mulholland reshapes Observer team"
.
The Guardian
. UK
. Retrieved
17 February
2008
.
- ^
John Mulholland,
"Welcome to the new Observer"
, Guardian.co.uk, 21 February 2010.
- ^
Gayle, Damien (28 July 2021).
"Guardian most widely used newspaper website and app for news, says Ofcom"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
Gavriel Hollander (27 August 2003).
"Observer to launch new monthly technology supplement"
.
Press Gazette
. Retrieved
21 May
2015
.
- ^
"Observer wins top prize at 2014 Newspaper Awards"
.
The Guardian
. 2 April 2014
. Retrieved
21 May
2015
.
- ^
"New editor at the FINANCIAL TIMES"
(PDF)
.
Press Business
(1). February 2006. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 14 October 2013
. Retrieved
7 October
2013
.
- ^
"How to access past articles from the Guardian and Observer archive"
.
The Guardian
. 15 November 2017.
- ^
"Der Spiegel issue on Islam banned in Egypt"
.
France24
. 2 April 2008
. Retrieved
29 September
2013
.
- ^
"Paul Webster appointed new editor of The Observer"
.
The Guardian
(Press release). 18 January 2018
. Retrieved
24 April
2020
.
- ^
Greg Whitmore (3 November 2019).
"Stuart Heydinger obituary"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
3 November
2019
– via www.theguardian.com.
- ^
a
b
c
Press Gazette
,
Roll of Honour
, accessed 24 July 2011.
Archived
16 June 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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