The Observer
British weekly newspaper
The Observer is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly. In December 2024, Tortoise Media acquired the paper from the Scott Trust Limited, and took ownership of The Observer on 22 April 2025.
History
Origins
The first issue was published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, making The Observer the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editorial content. As a result, the paper soon took a strong line against progressive reformers such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley.
19th century
In 1807, the brothers decided to relinquish editorial control, naming Lewis Doxat as the new editor.
The public source identifies “The Observer” as british weekly newspaper. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Observer, British and weekly.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q336197. VIAF identifies the subject as 294378940. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1791, 1993, 2024 and 2025.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Observer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.