Guardian Media Group in talks to sell the Observer newspaper to Tortoise

LONDON -- News publisher Guardian Media Group said Tuesday it is in talks to sell The Observer newspaper to Tortoise Media, a “slow news” outlet founded by a former BBC executive and a U.S. diplomat.

Founded in 1791, the Observer is the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. It was bought by Guardian Media Group, which also publishes the Guardian, in 1993.

Tortoise was co-founded in 2019 by James Harding, a former BBC news executive and editor of The Times newspaper, and Matthew Barzun, who was a U.S. ambassador to Britain between 2013 and 2017.

Tortoise has produced multimedia investigations including the popular podcast “Sweet Bobby,” which is set to be made into a Netflix documentary.

The companies did not disclose the price or terms of the potential deal.

Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said a deal with Tortoise “has the potential to be a very positive thing."

“My number one priority is a future in which both titles continue to thrive and deliver high quality journalism to our readers,” she said.

Harding said the Observer “is one of the greatest names in news.”

“We believe passionately in its future – both in print and digital,” he said, promising to maintain the newspaper’s “uncompromising commitment to editorial independence, evidence-based reporting and journalistic integrity.”