The possible closure of Britain’s oldest Sunday newspaper, the Observer, is just the latest doomy portent to appear to an already beleaguered press. A campaign to save the paper is already gathering pace. But why? For the sake of the people who work there? Because it provides a liberal counterbalance to the right-wing excesses of its rivals? Because the loss of any paper, no matter its political orientation or preference for celebrity-driven content, is a loss for democracy? Sunder Katwala of the Fabian Society and Sunny Hundal over at Liberal Conspiracy have differing, but equally intriguing views on the matter.
Meanwhile, here are three reasons why our media just got a little more diverse, a little more exciting, and a little better-informed:
- The Frontline Club has launched a quartely broadsheet devoted to “high-quality” coverage of international politics and culture.
- Tribune, the left-wing periodical founded by Aneurin Bevan and that boasts George Orwell as a former literary editor, has relaunched.
- Everybody’s favourite Jewish anarchist website, Jewdas, is back and better than ever. Jewdas, as if you didn’t know, is determined to resurrect “the great radicalism of Jewish tradition, a tradition of dreamers, subversives, cosmopolitans and counter-culturalists.” (And unlike elsewhere in the community, you don’t have to be Jewish to join in.)