Letter: Hong Kong observer

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

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