Observer staff to be based in Berners Street

When Tortoise Media begins its publication of the Observer newspaper and news site in the spring this year, staff will be based at its offices in Berners Street in Fitzrovia.

Last week Tortoise put out job adverts for five senior editorial and production staff stating that the new recruits would be working at 22 Berners Street.

More than 20 staff of the Observer chose to take redundancy rather than work in Fitzrovia and be employed by Tortoise Media, reported the Press Gazette.

Tortoise announced in September last year that it wanted to buy the Observer, which was owned by The Scott Trust and the Guardian Media Group which publishes the Guardian. This led to a crisis at the two long-running newspapers where staff took strike action over the move. However, the deal to buy the Observer was completed in December.

James Harding, who co-founded Tortoise Media with Matthew Barzun, will be editor-in-chief of the Observer, and Lucy Rock has been appointed as editor.

Harding is a former director of BBC News and was editor of the The Times until 2012. Barzun is an American businessman, diplomat, and political fundraiser.

The Scott Trust will retain a stake in the Observer and have a seat on its commercial board, which will be chaired by Barzun. The editorial board, will be chaired by Sir Richard Lambert, a former editor of the Financial Times.

The Observer, like its sibling the Guardian, is currently free to read online but will be put behind a paywall under Tortoise’s business model for the newspaper.

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