Straight to the point

“I’m not sorry to be leaving Guardian newspapers. For years now being Jewish, however non-observant, and working for the company has been uncomfortable, at times excruciating…It will be a joy to know that I’m not a part of that anymore.”

Jay Rayner’s parting shot as he announced his departure from The Observer after 28 years tops off a turbulent few months at Guardian Media Group (GMG). Next week, indignant journalists will be striking in protest at the sale of the paper to Tortoise, an online media organisation. The Scott Trust, they claim, is betraying its commitment to The Observer — a  feeling reflected by The Observer’s former editor, Paul Webster, who lambasted the deal as a betrayal when he retired last week.

Rayner also expressed concern at the sale, claiming that “The Guardian has told me they will terminate all our contracts if they can sell The Observer to Tortoise”. Perhaps he was also anticipating this cost-cutting by the new owners as he resigned. But his strongly worded statement about the failure of the Editor in Chief, Katherine Viner to deal with antisemitism struck a chord.

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Rayner is not the first big name to have publicly accused Viner of not handling controversial issues as she should. In December 2020, Suzanne Moore jumped ship, having been the subject of a complaint sent to Viner, signed by over 300 “colleagues” after she was finally allowed to write about the gender wars.

Moore was followed by Hadley Freeman in November 2022. She resigned because she was unable to write freely about the “gender issue”. But in her resignation letter she disclosed that she had been warned off writing about Israel “from her perspective as a Jew” describing the paper as “internally dysfunctional”.

I’m no fan of Rayner: it often feels like his ego is bigger than his appetite. A decade ago, I made a joke about his attitude on Masterchef, and received a nasty, vitriolic email in response, despite having never corresponded with him in the past. Nevertheless, I believe him when he says there are antisemites at the paper — because I have encountered them myself. Once upon a time, before I was slowly cancelled from every section of the newspaper, I would go to parties there, and I recall one particular member of staff saying the most outrageous things about Jews under the guise of anti-Zionism.

I first met Viner when she was editor of the Guardian‘s Weekend Magazine; it was a great newspaper, and The Observer the best Sunday around. I would write the occasional column to fill in for Julie Burchill and Viner was a joy to work for. When she was appointed the first female Editor in Chief, in 2015, my feminist crowd were pleased, because she had long prioritised women’s issues, and in particular the campaign against male violence.

She had also defended me in 2004, when the paper had come in for an almighty kicking after publishing my “Gender bender beware” column — the one that first got me labelled a transphobic hate figure. I remember when I filed the piece, she said “We are going to get shit for this you know?”, only to send me back a very light edit. When I was nominated for Stonewall Journalist of the Year in 2008 and I got word that I would be greeted by a 200-strong picket outside the venue, Viner came with me, offering support. I respected her immensely.

There were moments, though, when her nervousness about certain issues showed. One example was when, back in 2006, I pitched a piece about the phenomena of so-called grooming gangs operating in former mill towns in the north of England.  As we now know, a sizable majority of the perpetrators were of Pakistani Muslim origin, because that was the demographic of young men in those towns.

She said: “We’ll be seen as racist.” I explained that I was writing as a left-wing feminist who had never been accused of racism, but she wouldn’t commission me. So I took the story to the Sunday Times, where it was published in September 2007, four years before The Times ran its first piece (in January 2011) by Andrew Norfolk, who was credited with breaking the story. Norfolk had been given five months to research the phenomenon and it turned into the massive story I had suggested, way back in 2006; Viner, though, had seemed more concerned with being labelled “Islamophobic”.

Still, Viner commanded respect among feminists. But by the time she became Editor, the trans train had picked up speed. Two years earlier, in 2013, The Observer had removed a column by Julie Burchill defending Suzanne Moore from allegations of transphobia, with the commissioning editor admitting that the newspaper had “got it wrong” by publishing it.

It is true, though, that while Viner is Editor in Chief of both The Guardian and The Observer, the latter has managed to be more open and honest about the gender issue. But many of the journalists on the latter have told me they are appalled at the censorious, often anti-feminist atmosphere at The Guardian. And when Webster retired, some admitted they were nervous about whether Viner would merge the editorial line into that of The Guardian. But given Rayner’s objection, the rot seems too deep. By failing to confront the ideologues, Viner has betrayed the principles of liberal, open-minded journalism.

I predict Rayner leaving in a storm of controversy will change nothing. His allegations will be denied. And the sale — described by Webster as a “discreditable conclusion to a damaging episode in the company’s history” — will go through. But I do think that rather than preparing to strike, the many decent, sensible people still at GMG should take a good look at the discreditable state of their journalism. Instead of going along with the ideological madness that Viner has allowed to flourish, they should, instead, demand that she is replaced by someone who has the courage to stand up for the similarly brave journalists.

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Source: UnHerd Read the original article here: https://unherd.com/