John Hibbert, Media Subject Advisor

As one of the set products for our GCSE Media Studies specification, the sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media at the end of 2024 will have an impact on the teaching of the News topic. In this blog I highlight key things for teachers to be aware of, including information about assessment of this topic and the set products. I’ll also look at the significance of the sale of The Observer in more detail.

Assessment and set products for the News topic

As we confirmed in our subject update in February, for students who will sit their exams in June 2026, unseen extracts from The Observer used in the J200/02 exam will be taken from before the sale to Tortoise Media. We would recommend students are familiar with relevant material from The Observer while under the ownership of the Guardian Media Group (GMG)/Scott Trust. Observer online content produced as part of GMG is archived in a section of The Guardian website. Students will still be credited for referring to the ownership of The Observer by GMG/Scott Trust. 

For students who start their course from September 2025 onwards, the study of The Observer should be in relation to material produced under the ownership of Tortoise Media. Following their acquisition of The Observer, Tortoise Media launched a standalone website for The Observer and new social media feeds. Because of this, the set products for the online, social and participatory media form have changed to reflect this. Students should study the new Observer website, and X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram feeds.

Tortoise Media

Tortoise Media is a British news organisation which launched in 2018. Its founders include a former editor of The Times and Director of BBC News, and a former US ambassador to the UK. It has received financial investment from a range of wealthy backers. Tortoise also generated over £500,000 in funding through a Kickstarter campaign. The main aim of the Kickstarter campaign was to gain new members, with the extra funding being seen as an additional benefit. 

Tortoise Media positions itself as part of the ‘slow journalism’ movement, which focuses on in-depth, reflective reporting instead of fast-paced breaking news. It produces a range of digital content with a focus on investigative podcasts including their flagship podcast The Slow Newscast, and a daily newsletter, Sensemaker. 

Tortoise has a membership model offering access to its content and the opportunity to attend ThinkIns which are live events allowing members to give their thoughts on current events. This reflects Tortoise’s ‘open news’ model with one co-founder stating: ‘We’re creating a different type of newsroom, for and with our members… Members will inform our thinking and our product’.

The Observer and Tortoise Media

In December 2024, Tortoise Media acquired The Observer from GMG/Scott Trust. The deal included a commitment to maintain The Observer’s print edition. The Scott Trust, which previously owned The Observer, retained a minority stake in Tortoise and joined its editorial board. As under the ownership of the Scott Trust, Tortoise committed to the principle of editorial independence and announced the creation of an editorial board ‘to ensure journalistic freedom and editorial independence’. 

Tortoise committed to invest £25 million in The Observer with the aim of adding resources to the print newspaper and building a daily digital presence for The Observer including podcasts, video, newsletters and a website. The first edition of The Observer produced under the ownership of Tortoise Media was published at the end of April 2025. The existing supplements of The Observer magazine, The New Review, sport, and The Observer Food Monthly have been retained. 

Students should explore one complete print edition of The Observer including the different supplements. This will help them understand the typical range of content featured, and how the print content is featured on the website and social media and how this addresses media audiences. 

Under the new ownership there have been some visual changes to the print newspaper. The most striking is the design of the front page which now tend to feature one single image dominating the page with a small number of coverlines. This approach is perhaps intended to reflect Tortoise’s ‘slow news’ focus on in-depth reporting on a smaller number of stories, and to create more visual impact on newsstands to differentiate The Observer from other Sunday papers.

The Observer website

Tortoise has launched a new website for The Observer, which combines content from the newspaper with other Tortoise products such as their podcasts. The new website reflects the range of content found in the print newspaper with sections focusing on news, culture, lifestyle, sport and food. 

The website also includes a dedicated section for audio content to promote Tortoise podcasts including The Slow Newscast alongside Observer audio content such as the daily Sensemaker which focuses on one story a day. There is also a section encouraging audience engagement which includes subscription offers for the print newspapers, newsletter sign-ups and promotion of a range of Observer events such as a book club. The Observer runs a live recording event for The News Meeting podcast, which takes the form of an editorial conference to discuss the news agenda, and is billed as an opportunity for audience members to have their say. 

The media language of The Observer website homepage reflects Tortoise’s slow news approach, with much less content compared to other newspaper websites such as The Guardian website and the absence of breaking news. The homepage features a small number of news stories highlighting in-depth features, with a range of other content from the different sections of The Observer along with promotion of its newsletters, audio content and Tortoise podcasts. 

The spacious, ordered layout of the website along the with the use of mostly serif fonts and more limited use of colour all work to create a strong broadsheet style. The house style for articles on the website uses tightly centred text, reflecting the spacious, ordered feel of the homepage along with a large banner image under the headline to create visual impact. 

Tortoise also launched a range of social media feeds for The Observer and for the different sections of the print edition including the magazine and New Review supplements. Students should study social media posts taken from The Observer’s X and Instagram feeds.

Tortoise Media, The Observer and media industries and audiences

The purchase of The Observer by a relatively new, privately funded startup illustrates the diversification of media ownership. It suggests the continued significance of newspaper brands, with Tortoise raising its profile by acquiring The Observer along with its existing audience and prestige as the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. It also highlights the significance of private wealth in journalism, as seen in other cases where wealthy individuals such as Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Bezos own major newspapers. 

Tortoise’s ownership of The Observer illustrates the increasingly convergent nature of the media, with Tortoise’s interest in a range of media forms including print newspapers, podcasts, and online news. The membership model operated by Tortoise reflects the need for media producers to find new ways of generating revenue for online content, and a greater focus on active audience participation. This can be seen through their ThinkIn and The News Meeting Live events which encourage their audience to engage and interact. This can be linked to ideas around active audiences, and the opportunity to provide social interaction as a part of the uses and gratifications model. 

The Observer under Tortoise’s ownership reflects several social and cultural contexts, including those around audiences in a digital age expecting a more participatory media experience and the breaking down of barriers between different media forms, and in the focus on ‘slow news’ the sense that contemporary media consumers suffer from information overload. The attempt to offer nuanced, factual and in-depth analysis could be seen as a reaction to the political context of the rise of populism and its simple political messaging. 

Tortoise Media’s acquisition of The Observer allows students to explore a range of contemporary issues around media ownership and how media organisations engage with their audiences. The teacher guide for the News topic has been updated following the change in ownership of The Observer. You can download this from Teach Cambridge. 

If you have any questions about the impact of the sale of The Observer to teaching this topic, please get in touch.

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About the author

John Hibbert has been Subject Advisor for Media and Film Studies since 2018. Prior to joining OCR John taught a range of media and film studies qualifications in secondary schools and was a head of department for eight years. Predictably, in his spare time he is a keen filmgoer, and in addition enjoys reading and miserable indie music