Professor Jean Seaton, Professor of Media History, was featured in an article published by the Express Online about former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s anger at coverage of the Falklands by the BBC, as revealed in Professor Seaton’s 2015 book.
In the book, titled ‘Pinkoes and Traitors: The BBC and the nation 1974-1987’, Professor Seaton revealed the BBC’s coverage of the Falklands War was perceived to be significantly less supportive as Thatcher thought the BBC was questioning her decision to even go to war at the time. Thatcher supposedly asked her Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw to summon BBC representatives so the Conservative MPs could express their anger.
Professor Seaton said: “Whitelaw wanted to ‘let them get it off their chests’. Whitelaw was under immense pressure, however, to use the power that Government’s possessed under the Corporation’s Charter to take it over and to direct what it broadcast. These powers existed to cover the transition to war in a nuclear attack.
“Whitelaw saw the blood-letting as a last-ditch attempt to protect the BBC from something far worse: government control.”
Related articles
