The Observer

The Observer is a United Kingdom newspaper published on Sundays. Overall slightly to the right of its daily sister paper The Guardian, it takes a liberal/social democratic line on most issues.

History

The first issue, published on 4 December 1791, was the world's first Sunday newspaper.

In 1911, William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (1848-1919) purchased The Observer from the Harmsworth family. It remained a Tory paper, as it had always been, until 1942, with the end of the 34-year editorship of J. L. Garvin. After his time, it declared itself non-partisan, an unusual stance for the time.

Ownership passed to the 2nd Viscount, Waldorf Astor, who in turn passed it on in 1948 to his sons, one of whom, David Astor (1912-2001), would be the paper's editor for 27 years. David Astor turned the paper into a trust-owned newspaper employing the likes of George Orwell; other journalists strongly associated with it included Paul Jennings and C. A. Lejeune. Under Astor's editorship the Observer became the first national newspaper to oppose the government's 1956 invasion of Suez, a move which cost it many readers. 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. Since June 1993, it has been part of the Guardian Media Group.

In 1990 Farzad Bazoft, a journalist for the Observer, was executed in Iraq on charges of spying, which are disputed by many.^[1]

On 27 February 2005 The Observer Blog^[2] was launched, making The Observer the first newspaper to purposely document its own internal decisions, as well as the first newspaper to podcast. The paper's regular columnists include Andrew Rawnsley and Nick Cohen.

Each issue comes with a different free monthly magazine focusing, in rotation, on Sport, Music, Women and Food. These magazines have the titles Observer Sport Monthly, Observer Music Monthly, Observer Woman Monthly and Observer Food Monthly. In addition to the rotating magazines there is the Observer Magazine which is present every Sunday.

Content from The Observer is included in the Guardian Weekly for an international readership, and articles from the magazines combine with Guardian magazine articles in the Guardian Monthly magazine. The Observer is also linked to personal finance and investment magazine Money Observer, which originally started as a supplement in the Observer before launching as a stand alone magazine in 1979.

The Observer followed its daily partner The Guardian and converted to 'Berliner' format on Sunday 8 January 2006^[3],^[4]

The Observer has been named national newspaper of the year at the British Press Awards 2007

The Newsroom

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.

Editors

• W. S. Bourne & W. H. Bourne (1791–early 19th century)
• Vincent George Dowling (early 19th century)
• Lewis Doxat (c. 1850–1857)
• Joseph Snowe (1857–1870)
• Edward Dicey (1870–1889)
• Henry Duff Traill (1889–1891)
• Rachel Beer (1891–1904)
• Austin Harrison (1904–1908)
• James Louis Garvin (1908–1942)
• Ivor Brown (1942–1948)
• David Astor (1948–1975)
• Donald Trelford (1975–1993)
• Jonathan Fenby (1993–1995)
• Andrew Jaspan (1995–1996)
• Will Hutton (1996–1998)
• Roger Alton (1998—)

See also

• Anthony Howard
• Cambridge Apostles
• Nick Cohen
• Observer Mace debating competition - now known as the John Smith Memorial Mace

References

Wikipedia information about The Observer This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Observer". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.