Post by Teddy Bear on Jun 19, 2015 18:50:34 GMT
Nothing about this story surprises me. We know how during the Iraq War for a time our forces switched off the BBC in favour of Sky because of their horrendous bias. Considering that the BBC is paid for by the British citizens, and for them to issue a directive during a conflict where we were involved to say BBC guidelines instructed reporters to remain neutral during the campaign. “We should try to avoid using ‘our’ when we mean British,” they read. “We are not Britain. We are the BBC”, is heinous.
Margaret Thatcher papers: BBC 'assisted the enemy during the Falklands War'
Baroness Thatcher "very angry" that BBC broadcasted "the next likely steps" in the Falklands War, newly published documents disclose
By Tom Rowley, Special Correspondent
Margaret Thatcher thought the BBC “assisted the enemy” during the Falklands War by broadcasting “the next likely steps” in the campaign before they took place, documents published for the first time on Friday will disclose.
The former prime minister wrote that she was “very angry” at some of the corporation’s coverage, which she thought placed more value on reporting the latest developments than on “the safety of our forces”.
In her autobiography, Baroness Thatcher criticised the “chilling use of the third person” in bulletins that referred to “the British” rather than “our soldiers”. But she had already written a far stronger attack on the corporation in a private memoir of the conflict, which will be released on Friday after her family donated it and other papers to a public archive in lieu of inheritance tax.
The 17,000-word account, which Lady Thatcher wrote by hand in 1983, a year after the conflict, highlights for the first time the extent of her frustration at specific aspects of the corporation’s coverage.
“Many of the public (including me) did not like the attitude particularly of the BBC and I was very worried about it,” she wrote in the note, which she kept secret even from her private secretaries.
She wrote that her criticisms also applied to ITV, but only singled out instances from BBC broadcasts.
She was “very angry” when she heard a radio report that the QEII, which had been drafted into the campaign, was near South Georgia, transferring troops to three ships.
“I knew this was planned but it was devastating to hear the report at about the time it was due to take place,” she wrote.
“Within eight hours of that broadcast reconnaissance planes were over South Georgia searching. They had not been there for weeks. Fortunately they did not find the ships – the sea is a big place.”
Other Conservative MPs were strongly critical of what they saw as the BBC’s “obsequious” attitude towards Argentina, while her husband, Sir Denis, was reported to be “livid with rage” at the coverage.
BBC guidelines instructed reporters to remain neutral during the campaign. “We should try to avoid using ‘our’ when we mean British,” they read. “We are not Britain. We are the BBC.”
The account forms part of a cache of her private notes that will be published online on Friday by Churchill College, Cambridge. It sheds light on how each development during the “anxious days and weeks” of the war affected Lady Thatcher, who referred to the islanders as “our people” and the troops as “our boys”.
She wrote about feeling guilty when she heard news of British casualties.
She recounted meeting the Glaswegian mother of one of the fallen at a memorial service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Charles Moore, a Telegraph columnist and her official biographer, said the account was “very much the writing of a woman prime minister”. “Obviously any decent prime minister worries terribly about loss of life but she had a mother’s idea about it,” he said. “It was very deeply felt.”
Baroness Thatcher "very angry" that BBC broadcasted "the next likely steps" in the Falklands War, newly published documents disclose
By Tom Rowley, Special Correspondent
Margaret Thatcher thought the BBC “assisted the enemy” during the Falklands War by broadcasting “the next likely steps” in the campaign before they took place, documents published for the first time on Friday will disclose.
The former prime minister wrote that she was “very angry” at some of the corporation’s coverage, which she thought placed more value on reporting the latest developments than on “the safety of our forces”.
In her autobiography, Baroness Thatcher criticised the “chilling use of the third person” in bulletins that referred to “the British” rather than “our soldiers”. But she had already written a far stronger attack on the corporation in a private memoir of the conflict, which will be released on Friday after her family donated it and other papers to a public archive in lieu of inheritance tax.
The 17,000-word account, which Lady Thatcher wrote by hand in 1983, a year after the conflict, highlights for the first time the extent of her frustration at specific aspects of the corporation’s coverage.
“Many of the public (including me) did not like the attitude particularly of the BBC and I was very worried about it,” she wrote in the note, which she kept secret even from her private secretaries.
“They were sometimes reporting as if they were neutral between Britain and Argentina. At other times we felt strongly that they were assisting the enemy by open discussions with experts on the next likely steps in the campaign.
“My concern was always the safety of our forces. Theirs was news.”
“My concern was always the safety of our forces. Theirs was news.”
She was “very angry” when she heard a radio report that the QEII, which had been drafted into the campaign, was near South Georgia, transferring troops to three ships.
“I knew this was planned but it was devastating to hear the report at about the time it was due to take place,” she wrote.
“Within eight hours of that broadcast reconnaissance planes were over South Georgia searching. They had not been there for weeks. Fortunately they did not find the ships – the sea is a big place.”
Other Conservative MPs were strongly critical of what they saw as the BBC’s “obsequious” attitude towards Argentina, while her husband, Sir Denis, was reported to be “livid with rage” at the coverage.
BBC guidelines instructed reporters to remain neutral during the campaign. “We should try to avoid using ‘our’ when we mean British,” they read. “We are not Britain. We are the BBC.”
The account forms part of a cache of her private notes that will be published online on Friday by Churchill College, Cambridge. It sheds light on how each development during the “anxious days and weeks” of the war affected Lady Thatcher, who referred to the islanders as “our people” and the troops as “our boys”.
She wrote about feeling guilty when she heard news of British casualties.
“In fights for liberty we lose our bravest and best,” she wrote. “How unjust and how heart-breaking. And at No 10 one was protected and safe – one felt so guilty at the comfort.”
“[She] suddenly took my arm and said ‘You’ll never let the islands go, will you?’ ‘No – NEVER,’ I replied, a promise I gave as Prime Minister and which I hope will always be honoured for the sake of those who died.”