Words Dept.: entry

Interesting take in the Independent on the reasons for Roger Alton’s resignation as editor of the Observer. According to the Indy, Alton was the victim of a “power struggle” with sister paper the Guardian, partly as a result of his paper’s support of the Iraq war, in contrast with the position of the Guardian.

The Indy paints Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger as a dark figure, wielding the knife because the Observer’s circulation is up and the Guardian’s is down. The Guardian’s coverage is, predictably, a lot more sedate.

Meanwhile, Guardian columnist/blogger Roy Greenslade, writing in the Evening Standard, seems to have predicted it all rather eerily, with a piece on the same day Alton resigned headlined “Alton is ready to quit sooner or later”. The rest of the piece (and its repetition within the Guardian blog) seems to suggest Greenslade protesteth too much about there absolutely, definitely being no “feud” between the Observer and Guardian.

First Menzies Campbell and now this. What is it with these liberal, sandal-wearing types bumping each other off? The muesli must have gone to their heads.