''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment and publishing industries.

History

The ''Observer'' was first published in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on September 22, 1987, as a weekly newspaper by

Arthur L. Carter Arthur L. Carter (born December 24, 1931) is an American investment banker, publisher, and artist. Biography Born to a American Jews, Jewish family, Carter graduated from Brown University in 1953 with a degree in French literature. He served i ...

, a former

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

. The ''New York Observer'' had also been the title of an earlier weekly religious paper founded by Sidney E. Morse in 1823. In July 2006, the paper was purchased by the American real estate figure

Jared Kushner Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...

, then 25 years old. The paper began its life as a broadsheet, and was then printed in tabloid format every Wednesday, and currently has an exclusively online format. It is headquartered at 1

Whitehall Street Whitehall Street is a street in the South Ferry/Financial District neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City, near the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The street begins at Bowling Green to the north, where it is a continuation of the ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Previous writers for the publication include Kara Bloomgarden–Smoke, Kim Velsey, Matthew Kassel, Jillian Jorgensen,

Joe Conason Joe Conason (born January 25, 1954) is an American journalist, author and liberal political commentator. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ''The National Memo'', a daily political newsletter and website that features breaking news and comm ...

Doree Shafrir Doree Shafrir (born May 16, 1977) is an American author and podcast host. She was previously an editor at ''Rolling Stone'', Gawker and ''The New York Observer'' and a senior writer at BuzzFeed. She is the author of the novel ''STARTUP'' and co ...

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; ...

Andrew Sarris Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Katav ...

Richard Brookhiser Richard Brookhiser (; born February 23, 1955) is an American journalist, biographer and historian. He is a senior editor at ''National Review''. He is most widely known for a series of biographies of America's founders, including Alexander Hamilt ...

Michael Tomasky Michael John Tomasky (born October 13, 1960) is an American columnist, progressive commentator, and author. He is the editor of ''The New Republic'' and editor in chief of ''Democracy''. He has been a special correspondent for ''Newsweek'', ''T ...

Azi Paybarah Azi Paybarah is a New York-based journalist who focuses on local politics. He worked as a reporter for the ''New York Press'', the '' Queens Tribune'' and the ''New York Sun''. In February 2011, Paybarah returned to ''The New York Observer'' which ...

Ross Barkan Ross Elliot Barkan (born October 22, 1989) is an American journalist, novelist, columnist, and essayist. Early life and education Barkan grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He attended Stony Brook University and earned a master's degree from New Yo ...

John Heilpern John David Heilpern (8 April 1942 – 7 January 2021) was a British theatre critic, journalist, and author who worked both in the United Kingdom and the United States. He was a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' (where he wrote the "Out To L ...

Robert Gottlieb Robert Adams Gottlieb (born April 29, 1931) is an American writer and editor. He has been editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and ''The New Yorker''. Early life and education Robert Gottlieb was born to a Jewish family in New Y ...

, Foster Kamer,

Nicholas von Hoffman Nicholas von Hoffman (October 16, 1929 – February 1, 2018) was an American journalist and author. He first worked as a community organizer for Saul Alinsky in Chicago for ten years from 1953 to 1963. Later, Von Hoffman wrote for ''The Washingt ...

Simon Doonan Simon Doonan (born 1952 He worked at Barneys until it closed in 2019. He writes a column on style for ''Slate''. In his book, ''Eccentric Glamour'', he decried porno chic in Western society in general. Interviewed for an article for the ''Ne ...

Anne Roiphe Anne Roiphe (born December 25, 1935) is an American writer and journalist. She is best known as a first-generation feminist and author of the novel ''Up the Sandbox'' (1970), filmed as a starring vehicle for Barbra Streisand in 1972. In 1996, ' ...

Terry Golway Terry Golway is a historian, author, and a journalist, having served as a columnist and editorial board member for ''The New York Times'' and a long-time editor and writer at ''The New York Observer''. Career In 2010 Golway discovered a historic e ...

Ron Rosenbaum Ronald Rosenbaum (born November 27, 1946) is an American literary journalist, literary critic, and novelist. Life and career Rosenbaum was born into a Jewish family in New York City, New York and grew up in Bay Shore, New York. He graduated fr ...

, Michael M. Thomas,

Philip Weiss Philip Weiss is an American journalist who co-edits '' Mondoweiss'' ("a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective") with journalist Adam Horowitz. Weiss describes h ...

, and

Steve Kornacki Stephan Joseph Kornacki (born August 22, 1979) is an American political journalist, writer, and television presenter. Kornacki is a national political correspondent for NBC News. He has written articles for ''Salon'', ''The New York Observer'', ...

. Originally, the paper was perhaps best known for publishing

Candace Bushnell Candace Bushnell (born December 1, 1958) is an American author, journalist, and television producer. She wrote a column for ''The New York Observer'' (1994–96) that was adapted into the bestselling ''Sex and the City'' anthology. The book was ...

's column "

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

" about Manhattan's social life, on which the television series ''

'' is based. It was visually distinctive because of its salmon‑colored pages and sketch illustrations.

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...

once described it as "the curiously pink newspaper". The paper switched to white‑colored paper in 2014. The fourth and longest-serving editor for the newspaper, Peter Kaplan, left the newspaper on July 1, 2009. Interim editor Tom McGeveran was replaced by Kyle Pope in 2009.

Elizabeth Spiers Elizabeth Spiers (born December 11, 1976) is an American web publisher and journalist, the founding editor of Gawker, a media gossip blog. From February 2011 until August 2012 she was the editor of ''The New York Observer''.

served as editor from 2011 to 2012, followed by interim editor Aaron Gell. In January 2013, publisher Jared Kushner named his longtime friend Ken Kurson, a political consultant, journalist, and author, as the ''Observer''s next editor. Publication of the weekly print edition ended with the November 9, 2016. issue. Observer Media, the publication's parent company, has continued to publish content on an online site under the masthead "Observer" (dropping "New York" from the name). The discontinuation of the print ''Observer'' came the day after Kushner's father-in-law,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

(Trump's daughter Ivanka is Kushner's wife), won the 2016 presidential election; Kushner served as a senior adviser in the

Trump Administration Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...

. Kushner transferred his ownership of Observer Media's remaining online assets into a family trust, through which his brother-in-law Joseph Meyer took over his former role as publisher. James Karklins, the former global chief marketing officer at

Newsweek Media Group ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

, was announced as the new president of ''Observer'' on January 8, 2018. His role is to help ''Observer'' grow, by diversifying its revenue streams, putting together conferences, and charging for digital subscriptions.

Ownership

The publisher and original owner, Arthur Carter, has had other publishing interests, including the ''Litchfield County Times''. At one time, he was a part‑owner in ''

The East Hampton Star ''The East Hampton Star'' is a weekly, privately owned newspaper published each Thursday in East Hampton, New York. It is one of the few independent, family-owned newspapers still existing in the United States. The owners live in East Hampton Tow ...

''. Carter received a B.A. in French literature from Brown University and an M.B.A. in finance from the

Tuck School of Business The Tuck School of Business (also known as Tuck, and formally known as the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance) is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Founded ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

. He spent 25 years in investment banking until 1981, when he founded the ''Litchfield County Times'' in New Milford, Connecticut. He owned it for twenty years until selling to

Journal Register Company 21st Century Media was an American media company. It was the successor of Ingersoll Publications and Journal Register Company, and it was succeeded by Digital First Media. The company operated more than 350 multi-platform products in 992 com ...

, later also selling his 50‑percent interest in ''The East Hampton Star'' in 2003. He has been an adjunct professor of philosophy and journalism at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

and is a trustee. In July 2006,

, a 25‑year‑old law student and son of a wealthy New Jersey developer,

Charles Kushner Charles Kushner (born May 16, 1954) is an American real estate developer, former federal inmate, and disbarred former attorney. He founded Kushner Companies in 1985. In 2005, he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, a ...

, purchased the paper for just under $10million. In April 2007

Bob Sommer Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

became president of Observer Media Group, and subsequently served on the Observer Media Group Board of Directors. In January 2017, Jared Kushner announced he would sell his stake to a Kushner family trust, when he became a senior advisor to President Donald Trump. Kushner's brother-in-law, Joseph Meyer, who has been the CEO of Observer Media Group since 2013, replaced him as publisher.

Political stance

In 2016, the ''Observer'' became one of only a handful of newspapers to officially endorse United States presidential candidate

in the

Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries have been held in the United States since 1912 to nominate the Republican presidential candidate. 1912 This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. President William Taft ran to become the nomine ...

. The newspaper's owner and then publisher, Jared Kushner, is Trump's son-in-law and was an advisor to the Trump presidential campaign. The ''Observer'' did not repeat its endorsement after Trump became the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee for President.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:New York Observer Newspapers published in New York City Newspapers established in 1987 Online newspapers with defunct print editions American news websites 1987 establishments in New York City Publications disestablished in 2016