Guardian newspaper branded ‘institutional RACIST’ as editors accused of trying to cover up slavery links

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The newspaper is working on an editorial project based on the links between its founder, John Edward Taylor, and transatlantic slavery

The Guardian has been accused of institutional racism by podcast producers who had worked with the outlet on a project dealing with its past links to the slave trade.

The newspaper is working on an editorial project based on the links between its founder, John Edward Taylor, and transatlantic slavery.

Three producers who worked on a podcast as part of the series complained in writing to The Guardian last year about the treatment they received while working on the project.

The individuals, including an award-winning audio producer, emailed a number of professionals on Monday detailing their claims after hearing The Guardian was seeking to complete the project.

The email, seen by Deadline, said: A key issue was The Guardian’s lack of any serious desire to confront and question its own historical role, what that has meant for its journalism to date and what accountability might look like in the future.

This gave way to micro-aggressions, coloristic, intimidating, passive-aggressive and obstructive management styles that caused frustration and stress for members of the production team.

The institution is now looking for other producers to complete our work and has ignored our concerns.

The result of this project is a huge indictment of the newspaper. The irony of dealing with institutional racism, editorial whiteness and ignorance on a project on the legacies of slavery has not escaped us and deeply undermines the integrity of the project.

The newspaper was renamed The Guardian in 1959Jonathan Brady

The Manchester Guardian was founded by Taylor in 1821, who edited it until his death in 1844.

It was later renamed The Guardian in 1959.

The owners of the newspaper, The Scott Trust, launched a review of Taylor’s slavery ties while saying there was no evidence he owned slaves or was directly involved in the trade.

Producers working on the podcast said they were keen to expose their allegations because they were aware of other black producers who had been approached to potentially work on the series.

They said in the email: Our experiences often get buried, and production companies are able to carry on as if nothing happened and repeat the same evil while using our work for kudos.

They said a team of Guardian editors mishandled the podcast despite numerous attempts to have good faith conversations.

The producers revealed they wrote a formal letter of complaint to their editors, saying they were ignored for weeks and minimized before being offered ineffective mediation sessions.

The email added: We were routinely undermined, unsupported and deeply frustrated by the lack of journalistic rigor and critical attention to history from a global news organization.

We had hoped to do a series to help move the discourse away from the kinds of reductive conversations about race and capitalism that are typically commanded in our industry.

A Guardian spokesperson said: The Guardian is working on a major editorial project relating to its own story which is due for publication shortly. The project is led by a diverse team of experienced and respected Guardian editors, with the close involvement of a large number of colleagues and experts who also represent diverse perspectives.

We are concerned that some former colleagues and contributors did not have a good experience working with us, but we are disappointed that they have chosen to write a partial reflection of their time at The Guardian. We always take concerns reported to us seriously and acted immediately to respond to people, including offering a mediation process, which took place with a mediator chosen by the people themselves.

The project is largely complete and will not take any hits in terms of transparency. It will be published in the coming months, and we look forward to discussing it with our readers and colleagues.

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