The 1984–5 Coal Dispute: Television News

Abstract

From the first day of the one-year strike, television news was under attack. That day the miners’ president, Mr Arthur Scargill, accused BBC news and ITN of ‘distorted coverage’, and he kept up the barrage to the end. Yet he loved to appear on television himself, as the radio journalist Nicholas Jones soon noted, and he made astute use of his opportunities.¹ He knew that television was his most effective way of reaching both the NUM membership and the public as a whole. His opponent, Mr Ian MacGregor, also complained of bias — against management — but shrugged it off as one of life’s inevitable injustices.² Journalists found him a less adequate communicator, lacking the dexterity and appeal of Mr Scargill.