| How the BBC resisted censorship During the conflict with Argentina, Britain, the birthplace of the ideas of democracy and freedom, demonstrated to the whole world: democracy is one thing, but war is something completely different.
After more than two months of fighting in the South Atlantic, the British became accustomed to the stony face, sepulchral voice and black square glasses of the Ministry of Defense spokesman Ian MacDonald and his famous phrase before each briefing: “I will not answer any questions.” According to Defense Secretary John Nott, MacDonald was a "most monotonous and boring type, but brilliant at what he did." MacDonald himself described the secret of his popularity simply: “Sit straight in your chair, don’t move your eyes, speak slowly.”
The British government tried to impose similar recipes on the national media during the days of crisis; censorship and control were tightened. Guardian newspaper columnist Julian Barnes considers the reflection of the Falklands crisis in the British media to be “the worst coverage of military action since the Crimean campaign.” The government’s task was simplified: unwanted journalists could simply not be taken on board the naval group heading to the islands, and the Ministry of Defense immediately explained to the lucky ones that it would like to “clarify” the details of the reporting together. Some reporters aboard the Hermes aircraft carrier began sending materials to their publications marked “censored,” which, however, was immediately erased by the censors. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was furious when the state radio station BBC refused to call the British “our soldiers”, persistently used the double name of the Falklands-Malvinas islands in its broadcasts, and openly declared that “it is not the BBC’s place to raise morale.” the spirit of the British troops." When even the Spanish-language Latin American service of the BBC failed to impose a propaganda line, the Ministry of Defense, despite the radio corporation’s protests, seized its radio transmitter on the island of Asuncion in the Atlantic and created Radio Atlantico del Sur with daily messages from “Argentine mothers” calling for sons to return home. The BBC, for its part, immediately announced on air that on wave 9710 “instead of information, propaganda is transmitted.” Thatcher's government defended the right to censorship even after the end of hostilities, when it brought to trial Ministry of Defense officer Clive Ponting, who declassified sensational documents according to which the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, sunk by an English submarine, was not only not in the combat zone established by Great Britain, but was also heading towards from her.
During the days of crisis, the censorship of the authorities was supplemented by “informal” censorship of national patriotism. “Be careful,” Roy Greenslade, a Sun contributor critical of the deployment to the South Atlantic, was advised, “this is a very unpopular view in the paper.” “Argis”, “bean-eaters” - called the South Americans by The Sun, which became famous with the headlines “Gotcha” (“Gotcha!”, “Got it!”, “Get it!”) after the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano with 1,100 sailors on board, “Britain - - Argentina 6:0" (by number of major losses), "Stick it to your junta: a rocket from Sun for the gaucho Galtieri." The Sun's chief Kelvin McKenzie said bluntly: "Traitors are among us" - and pointed to the "fearful, whining Mirror" and the "insignificant Guardian".
Naturally, censorship was also tightened in Argentina, a country with a military dictatorship in power. Broadcasts from the BBC's Latin American service were jammed, and on the waves of the specially created Radio Liberty, a languid female voice accompanied by Beatles melodies reminded the British how far away their homeland was. Local media were advised not to publish materials that “call into question national integrity.” The press of the communist USSR never called the military junta in Argentina dictatorial and bloody, and in materials about the “Anglo-Argentine conflict” they laid the blame on the imperialism of Great Britain and the United States - it was this year that Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” Andrey ZLOBIN |
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