No one can accuse the bosses of the Guardian over being overtly sentimental. Just days after “banging out” their old Observer colleagues from their King’s Place office, they were gearing up to compete ferociously with the Sunday newspaper under its new ownership.
Under the terms of the sale, the Guardian is contractually banned from publishing a print paper on Sundays for a period of years, and its parent even has a shareholding in the new entity – but as the Observer released its first edition under new ownership, the Guardian put out a plethora of its own content to compete.
This included lengthy features, arts and culture material, and lifestyle, rather than just the breaking news the site would’ve constrained itself to when the two papers were under shared ownership. Clearly, the Guardian intends to be a seven-day operation. Solidarity only goes so far, it seems.
