This is a guest post by More Media Nonsense
Observer readers will have noticed how the paper has slimmed considerably in the last months, the latest change being the loss of the weekly TV guide so it is clear all is not well.
There were reports yesterday that parent company GMG was going to close the paper, and today there is even a report in sister paper the Guardian on the issue. However it appears even the Guardian has no real clue what is going to happen.
The Guardian and the Observer made operating losses of £61m last year and the Observer is reported not to have made a profit since it was taken over by GMG in 1993. That’s some performance.
Although it is not unusual for newspapers to make a loss eg the Indy, such a run of losses seems over the top to say the least. Are the journos overpaid, are there too many or is dead tree newspaper publishing just a doomed business scenario ?
Richard Desmond’s Express group on the other hand do make a profit by ruthless cost cutting and pooling resources. Is that the only way to run papers today ? Or does it only work for Desmond because he is in the mid and lower ends of the market where quality is not such an issue ?
As for the Observer I would be sad to see it go but if the staff and management cannot make a profit and the only alternative is continuous losses what is to be done ? Mind you given the wilder excesses of the politics of some of the GMG writers I wouldn’t surprised if some of them went on strike demanding the paper be nationalised.
If so – well good luck Shameless but you won’t find me on the picket line.
