The Guardian is not owned by a trust at all. In 2008, "the trust was replaced
with a limited company" that was accordingly re-named "The Scott Trust Limited."
Though not a trust at all, but simply a profit-making company, it is still
referred to frequently as 'The Scott Trust,' promulgating the widely-held but
mistaken belief in the Guardian's inherently benign ownership structure.
The new company purports, like many other corporate entities, to be guided by a
range of commendable values, including the task of maintaining the Guardian's
editorial independence. The problem, of course, is that the Guardian functions
under the same sort of corporate structure as any other major media company.
The chair of the Scott Trust Ltd. board is Dame Liz Forgan, who has repeatedly
called for the financial sector to contribute more to the arts. Two years ago,
her attitude to the sector was revealed when she described government tax-cuts
to the wealthy as "helpful changes in the tax law," but opined that the "huge
new wealth created in the City" as a result was only problematic because it is
not "finding its way to the arts." British financiers, she suggested, should
follow the exemplary model of Russian oligarchs, who "respect and value their
culture." It is difficult to understand how corrupt oligarchs with nothing
better to do than lavish stolen wealth on obscene 'artistic' pursuits of concern
to a tiny Russian minority should in anyway be considered a model for Britain,
given the record levels of impoverishment in Russia (thanks in no small part to
neo-liberal austerity), not to mention growing inequality in the UK manifest in
demand for food banks which in 2013 had rocketed up by 54%.
Forgan is deputy chair of the board of the British Museum, where she was
appointed a trustee in 2008. According to minutes of a British Museum board
meeting that year, the board approved a bank mandate to open an HSBC account
that would facilitate "HSBC being a sponsor of Museum activities." Forgan is
also patron of St. Giles Trust, which since 2013 has been sponsored by HSBC as
part of its three year 'Opportunity Partnership.'
Conspiracy? Coincidence? Either way, the chair of the company that owns the
Guardian, the biggest recipient of HSBC digital advertising revenue, is involved
in facilitating HSBC contributions to two institutions.
Apart from Forgan, the rest of the Scott Trust Ltd.'s board consists of
ex-journalists and financiers, all of whom are shareholders in the Trust, which
in turn is the sole shareholder of Guardian Media Group, and which is thus
responsible for overseeing how the Group manages and re-invests Guardian
profits. They must juggle the task of operating the Guardian "as a
profit-seeking enterprise," while securing its "financial and editorial
independence" - goals that as the HSBC case illustrates, are ultimately mutually
incompatible.
-- https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/death-drugs-and-hsbc-355ed9ef5316
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