GNM could close the Observer

Guardian News & Media is reportedly considering options for the Observer, including its possible closure.

According to reports across the broadsheet press, GNM is working on a three-year plan which includes ensuring the future of the Guardian.

This follows Friday’s trading statement where the company revealed a pre-tax loss of £89.8 million for the year to the end of March (see Guardian Media Group reports pre-tax loss of £89.8 million).

It is thought that if the Observer does close it could be replaced by a mid-week magazine of the same name.

According to several reports, a mock up of the magazine was shown to members of the Scott Trust, the sovereign body of GNM, which “exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity”. The trust holds no such brief for The Observer, which GNM bought in 1993.

The latest ABC figures for the paper show that its circulation was down 6.4% year on year in June to around 410,000 copies (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: June 2009).

The paper’s classified pages have fallen 45.1% over the past five years, meanwhile, while display pages are down 25% over the same period, according to figures from MediaTel’s Press-Pagination database (see National Newspapers Pagination Report).