TALK OF THE TRADE : Search begins at the Scott Trust
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Your support makes all the difference.The search for new editors for the Guardian and Observer underscores the unique, even quaint, framework of the group in an age dominated by media tycoons: the family owner JR (John) Scott effectively gave away the Guardian and Manchester Evening News in June 1936, when the Scott Trust came into being. Twelve years later, lawyers redrafted the trust deed to say that power to appoint trustees would die with JR Scott. At that point, the company ceased to have a proprietor. Power to fill vacancies p assed to trust members themselves, who now form a self-perpetuating elite: after pressure from journalists, the trust now includes their representative.
The current 10 trustees, who met yesterday to start the two-week search, are Peter Preston, Harry Roche, Hugo Young, Malcolm Young (all from the Guardian), Michael Unger (editor of the Manchester Evening News), Martin and Jonathan Scott, Anne Lapping (TVproducer), Andrew Phillips (solicitor) and Anthony Sampson. The mechanics of consultation were exercised last in 1973, when Preston was picked to replace Alastair Hetherington. There was a form of electoral college and a week of agonising: the staff were quite finely split between John Cole (who went on to become political editor of the BBC) and Peter Preston. This time round, Alan Rusbridger, deputy editor of the Guardian, is the clear favourite. The real drama is over who should lead the Observer back to health.
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