MOSCOW, December 30 (Sputnik) — Files from 1985 released by the UK National Archive indicate that then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher was waging a covert war against the British broadcaster BBC, the Telegraph said Tuesday.
In a series of memos released by the National Archive and published by the newspaper, Thatcher raised her concern over the BBC's journalistic standards and planned to "knock the BBC down to size, to force them to improve efficiency, and to prevent them from extravagantly expanding into everything from DBS [satellite broadcasts] to breakfast-time TV."
According to the Telegraph, in March 1985 Thatcher initiated an inquiry into the financing of the BBC.
"As you know, I have been considering with colleagues, alongside the BBC's application for an increase in the license fee, the establishment of an inquiry into the possibility that the BBC should be funded, at least in part, through advertising, on the lines that we discussed on 9 January," Thatcher was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Thatcher repeatedly suggested that BBC stations should introduce advertising to increase revenues and manufacturers should produce sets that could only be tuned to ITV and Channel 4, two British commercial broadcasters, the paper said.
"This would put pressure on the BBC to be more competitive and it would be consistent with the Government's aim of giving people as much free choice as possible," Thatcher said in the archive document.
Thatcher accused the BBC of "biased and irresponsible" news coverage, saying that some of its radio and television programs "were distasteful to the point of offending against public decency".
The release of the files comes a month after British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne accused the BBC of "biased" and "exaggerated" coverage of the annual Autumn Statement.
