Paul F. Webster (born 20 February 1954 [1] ) is a British journalist who has been the editor of The Observer since 2018. [2] He was previously the deputy editor of The Observer [3] for 20 years under Will Hutton, Roger Alton, and John Mulholland, and before that, the foreign and home editor of The Guardian . [4] [5]
Webster became editor of The Observer as a result of his promotion by Guardian Media Group editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, who said he would be a "superb" editor. Webster said: "I am delighted and honoured to be appointed editor, especially at such an exciting time in the paper’s development as it relaunches in its new tabloid format." [6] He succeeded John Mulholland, who took up a role as editor of Guardian US in the Manhattan-based American online presence of the British print newspaper in April 2018. [7] [8]
On 16 July 2024 it was announced that Webster will be retiring from his role as editor of The Observer in the autumn. [9]
The Independent is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition.
The Observer is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, having been acquired by their parent company, Guardian Media Group Limited, in 1993. In December 2024 it was announced that the paper had been sold to Tortoise Media First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including The Guardian and The Observer. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity.
Andrew Paul Gilligan is a British policy adviser and ex-journalist. He served as a special adviser to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, having previously worked as a transport adviser to Boris Johnson both as Mayor of London and as Prime Minister.
The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor is Jake Wallis Simons.
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as The New Observer. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, which is owned by News Corp. Times Newspapers also publishes The Times. The two papers, founded separately and independently, have been under the same ownership since 1966. They were bought by News International in 1981.
Philip Neville French was an English film critic and radio producer. French began his career in journalism in the late 1950s, before eventually becoming a BBC Radio producer, and later a film critic. He began writing for The Observer in 1963 and retired as film critic in 2013, but continued to write until his death.
Robert James Kenneth Peston is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston alongside ITV News Deputy Political Editor Anushka Asthana. From 2006 until 2014, he was the Business Editor of BBC News and its Economics Editor from 2014 to 2015. He became known to the wider public with his reporting on the 2007–2008 financial crisis, especially with his exclusive information on the Northern Rock crisis. He is the founder of the education charity Speakers for Schools.
Timothy Montgomerie is a British political activist, blogger, and columnist. He is best known as the co-founder of the Centre for Social Justice and as creator of the ConservativeHome website, which he edited from 2005 until 2013, when he left to join The Times.
Carole Jane Cadwalladr is a British author, investigative journalist, and features writer. She is a features writer for The Observer and formerly worked at The Daily Telegraph. Cadwalladr rose to international prominence in 2018 for her role in exposing the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, for which she was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, alongside The New York Times reporters.
Guardian US is the Manhattan-based American online presence of the British print newspaper The Guardian. It launched in September 2011, led by editor-in-chief Janine Gibson, and followed the earlier Guardian America service, which was closed in 2009. Guardian US is only available online. John Mulholland was appointed in January 2018 as the editor of Guardian US. Mulholland left his post at Guardian US in 2022 and was succeeded by Betsy Reed.
James Paul Harding is a British journalist, and a former director of BBC News who was in the post from August 2013 until 1 January 2018. He is the co-founder of Tortoise Media.
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister papers, The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, The Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of The Guardian free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for The Guardian the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK.
John Mulholland is an Irish journalist who was the editor of the British Sunday newspaper The Observer for 10 years and assistant editor of The Guardian. He has worked for most of his career with the Guardian Media Group. In April 2018, he became the editor of Guardian US. He left this post in 2022.
Helen Alexandra Lewis is a British journalist and a staff writer at The Atlantic. She is a former deputy editor of the New Statesman, and has also written for The Guardian and The Sunday Times.
Amol Rajan is an Indian–British journalist, broadcaster and writer working in the United Kingdom. Formerly the media editor of BBC News, he has been a presenter on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 since 2021 and University Challenge on BBC Two since 2023. Before joining the BBC, Rajan was the editor of the newspaper The Independent from 2013 to 2016.
Kamal Ahmed is a British journalist, who was Editorial Director of BBC News. He was Economics Editor at the BBC until November 2018, and Business Editor from March 2014, until Simon Jack was appointed as his successor in February 2016.
Anushka Asthana is a British journalist and television presenter. She is the current Deputy Political Editor of ITV News, and is also a co-presenter of Peston.
Gaby Wood, Hon. FRSL, is an English journalist, author and literary critic who has written for publications including The Observer, The Daily Telegraph, London Review of Books, Granta, and Vogue. She is the literary director of the Booker Prize Foundation, appointed in succession to Ion Trewin and having taken over the post at the conclusion of the prize for 2015.
Tortoise Media is a British news website co-founded in 2018 by former BBC News director and The Times editor James Harding and former US ambassador to the United Kingdom Matthew Barzun. Tortoise produces podcasts and holds live discussion events called "ThinkIns" and "Discussion Lates" in the London area. It is part of the slow journalism movement.