Pulitzer finalist Carole Cadwalladr has confirmed that she will be leaving the Observer after 19 years following its sale to loss-making media firm Tortoise.
The well-regarded journalist told her social media “we just lost a liberal independent newspaper with everything that entails for both journalists and readers” in the wake of the announcement.
It comes after The Guardian Media Group said it had struck a deal to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media in a move that had been denounced by Cadwalladr along with other journalists.
She had been warned by management to curtail her public comments after appearing on the Media Confidential podcast hosted by former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger.
But she decided not to heed the caution, saying: “I’ve decided that my loyalty lies with the readers of The Observer.”
Speaking at the Malta conference on media freedom run by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Cadwalladr described Tortoise as a “tiny, financially unprofitable podcast company”, saying the Observer sale is an “existential threat to our journalism”.
“We believe the company that is seeking to buy us has no track record of success, no business model and insufficient funds.
“We don’t understand why no alternatives have been considered. We believe that The Guardian is risking the trust of the readers by making such a reckless decision in haste. We believe it is the beginning of the end of our newspaper.”
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