‘Observer’ sale deplored

Press, 28 February 1981, Page 8

‘Observer’ sale deplored

NZPA-Reuter London Journalists on the “Observer” yesterday “utterly deplored” the decision to I sell the paper without consulting them. Their two-hour meeting was addressed by Mr Rolanc “Tiny” Rowland, of the Lonrho trading group, which has bought the paper and Mr Angus Clarke of the • Scottish publisher George Outr-am, a Lonrho sub- i sidiary. The journalists had only i two hours warning before the news was released offi- i cially on Wednesday. i They said yesterday tha’ . Mr Rowland and Mr Clarke had given them repeated oral assurances of continued editorial independence. ; Now the journalists wan! :

a written undertaking from the new owner that guarantees drawn up by them would be acceptable anc binding. “This chapel, (union office branch) which deeply appreciative of the role Atlantic Richfield played in rescuing the ‘Observer’ in 1976, utterly deplores the manner in which, without consultation with the staff or even the i directors, Atlantic Richfield is attempting to sell a con- ' trolling stake in the ‘Observ- . er’.” / Mr Jonathan Hunt, chairman of the “Observer” chapel of the National Union oi . Journalists, said his mem- | bers were undecided about ; the deal. “There is still uncertainty among the journalists,” he 1 said. 1

They were “very angry’ dial the deal was drawn uf over their heads. Fleet Street was stunnec by the announcement that Mr Rowland had bought the “Observer.” One of the paper’s directors said boarc members had not been consulted. David Astor, the “Observer’s” editor for 27 year until 1975 and a member of the Anglo-American famil' which once owned it, said he was very surprised tc learn that it had been acquired by Mr Rowland. Meanwhile George Outram yesterday named the Sunda' paper it plans to launch in Scotland in April. It will be called the “Sunday Standard” and will b< launched on April 26.