Letter: Hong Kong observer

Jonathan Fenby
Sunday 03 January 1999 19:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sir: Your entry for me in the rogues' gallery of editors who have lost their jobs in London (Media, 29 December) says I "resigned" from The Observer "as sales continued to slide."

I didn't resign: as I have made clear in the past, I was "replaced" - to use Hugo Young's gentlemanly term - when the Scott Trust, which he chaired, agreed to Peter Preston becoming editor-in-chief of The Guardian and The Observer and decided to appoint a new editor for the Sunday paper.

Nor did sales continue to slide. They were in serious decline when I became editor of The Observer in June 1993 and were forecast to slump to 450,000 by Christmas.

By the first six months of 1994, we had pushed them back above half a million, and hit 520,000 in October-November just before the Scott Trust axe fell on me.

JONATHAN FENBY

Editor

South China Morning Post

Hong Kong

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in