Thread by @carolecadwalla

This week the Guardian's owner, the Scott Trust, gifted the 233-year-old Observer to Tortoise Media.

This isn't just a dark day for journalism, it's a sign.

Meet the team.

This is Putin giving Tortoise's energy advisory board member an 'Order of Friendship' medal in 2017.
1/

Independent news is under pressure across the world. The US is already crumbling: ABC settled with Trump. WaPo pre-obeyed.

This week Guardian lost 100 journalists & one of its arms. To understand what's lost, let's start with Putin's friend: Ivan Glasenberg, ex Glencore CEO.
2/

Glasenberg didn't just get a medal from Putin, he sat on the board of a Russian oil company, Rosneft, chaired by one of Putin's closest allies

And here he is: on Tortoise's energy advisory board, assembled by Tortoise, founder, owner & editor, James Harding.
3/

Glasenberg is not the only troubling name on this board. This is BP's ex-CEO, Bob Dudley. On left with Vladimir Putin. And on right, with James Harding.

He too was on Rosneft's board. Right up to when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Now he's a noted Trump cheerleader.
4/

Even more astounding: Dudley was on Rosneft's board when it sued investigative journalist, Catherine Belton, a 'SLAPP' suit condemned by press freedom orgs.

Months later, he co-chaired Tortoise Media's 2022 forum with James Harding & Lord Rothschild
5/

themoscowtimes.com/2021/05/03/rus…

Bob Dudley was back at this year's Tortoise forum sponsored by Brunswick whose energy lead Patrick Handley is also now on Harding's advisory board. He handles PR for Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil co.

And Dudley has a new gig. He now sits on Saudi Aramco's board.
6/

Dec 5, 2024 - remember that date. We, the journalists of Guardian & Observer, were on 2nd day of strike.

As Harding welcomed fossil fuel execs to Tortoise's forum.

We didn't know this. Or that later that day, the Scott Trust would vote to gift Observer to Tortoise Media.
7/

This week, we were told the deal is signed.

James Harding becomes Britain's newest media baron. As @pressgazette points out, the first owner-editor in a generation.

There's no separation between commercial & editorial: he's both. He's the firewall between himself & himself.
8/

And this was Tortoise's big story this w'end. Not Syria, but Saudi Arabia's winning bid to host FIFA World Cup.

Saudi Aramco sponsors FIFA to tune of $100m/year but this may just be 'slow news' in action. That's what being both owner & editor-in-chief means. Harding decides.
9/

It's Harding who decides whether to use Rosneft - who sued one of UK's best investigative journalists - as a model of good governance.

The idea an 'editorial board' overseen by his old boss can fix for this is absurd.
10/

And the Guardian? It promised readers it would not accept fossil fuel advertising or invest in it.

It will dance around this. But we see it.

We see it giving away a 233 year old newspaper, 100 journalists, £5m & its promise to readers.
11/

theguardian.com/media/2020/jan…

This strike wasn't about pay or even just jobs. We fought to uphold our journalistic values and our future as a UK liberal news org.

Because the Guardian has made its ambition clear: a voice-from-nowhere brand with global ambitions that wants to conquer new 'markets'.
12/

And that 'liberal' news org? I'm among 1/3 of its journalists kept on zero hours or l/t & possibly illegal 'freelance' contracts (19 years in my case tho 36 is the record!)

We were told this week these contracts (with Guardian no less) are being cancelled. Harding is offering 1 year contracts & zero promises.
13/

I think what we all profoundly feel is that this is the end of an era. The UK gained a new press baron: Murdoch, Lebedev...Harding. The Observer returns to its 80s past at the mercy of corporate interests. And the Guardian? It feels like its soul just left its body.
14/

And what I keep thinking of is 2073 Asif Kapadia's thrilling new sci-fi film about our dystopian future.

'It's too late for me,' says the main character. 'It may not be too late for you.'

It's too late for the Obs. But it may not be too late for the Guardian.
15/

I'm proud to have fought with & for my colleagues. But now need to put on my own lifejacket. They tell you to do so before you crash the plane, but anyway.

To read more on this, please consider signing up, either free or paid. And as ever thank you 🙏
16/
open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…

Adding a PS: no slight intended to any of Tortoise's many fine journalists & editors. The point is that an owner-editor responsible for both commercial 'partnerships' & editorial is a black box. What's interest? & what's influence? And how do you tell? Labelling corporate content would be a start...