New evidence has come to light from a Scott Trust meeting that appears to support Guardian Media Group senior management’s contention that The Observer does not have the same protections in place as The Guardian.
GMG is owned by the Scott Trust whose purpose, as set out in 1992, is “to secure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian in perpetuity”.
The Observer was bought by GMG in 1993 and the company is now in talks to sell the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper title to Tortoise Media, prompting fierce opposition from staff and from leading UK cultural figures.
Press Gazette has seen notes from a meeting of the Scott Trust that year which appears to support the contention that the body always intended for The Observer to be treated differently from The Guardian (which the Scott Trust has owned since 1936).
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And three former editors of The Observer this week noted in a letter to the Scott Trust that when The Guardian bought the title in 1993, then chair of the trust Hugo Young said: “The trust safeguards will be fully extended to The Observer, which will be edited independently of The Guardian and retain its separate character.”
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But Press Gazette has seen a note from the minutes of a 1993 meeting of The Scott Trust which said: “Mr Young felt that although we would want it to succeed, and it would have the benefits conferred to it as any other company owned by the trust, The Observer couldn’t be viewed in the same light as The Guardian.
“Mr Jonathan Scott [another member of the Trust] said that The Observer fell outside the Trust’s core responsibilities and agreed while every effort should be made to make it profitable, it shouldn’t be to the detriment of The Guardian.”
Guardian Media Group management believes that the Hugo Young quote used in the letter from former Observer editors related only to editorial independence.
In a statement accompanying the 2023/2024 Guardian accounts current chair of the trust Ole Jaco Sunder said: “We must be honest about areas of the business that are not part of our future growth and adapt.”
Meanwhile, Press Gazette understands that the 70 Observer staff who would transfer across to Tortoise Media are finally set to get more information.
Staff are concerned about their job security and want to know who is funding the bid for The Observer. They are also concerned that promised investment of £5m per year will be insufficient to support the title as a standalone business.
Press Gazette understands that further disclosure from Tortoise Media to Observer staff has been hampered by the fact negotiations have been ongoing but that it is now able to share more details next week.
Speaking on his Media Confidential podcast this week, former Guardian editor and Scott Trust member Alan Rusbridger noted that the Scott Trust’s publicly stated “subsidiary purpose” is “in promoting the causes of freedom in the press and liberal journalism, both in Britain and elsewhere”. He said: “That is code for The Observer.”
Guardian Media Group’s 1993 annual report described The Observer as a “natural stablemate” of The Guardian and noted that it was integrated into the business “in such a manner as would protect its long term future”.
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