Founded October 24, 1868[1] by brothers John and William Griffin as The Walsall Observer, and General District Advertiser, it became a regional weekly.
[3] By 2006, it had gone from nine journalists on staff twenty-five years earlier (i.e., circa 1981) to one senior, one trainee, and an editor shared with two other weekly papers; and, the National Union of Journalists charged, was reduced to a situation where "the paper largely regurgitates submitted material and press releases with little or no challenge.".
[4] In 2009, owners Trinity Mirror closed it down along with several other Midlands weeklies.
Former reporters for the Observer include David Ennals, Baron Ennals; Steve Green; Jane Kelly; Ruth Elliott-Smith and Richard Tomkins.
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