Margaret Thatcher on Charlemagne, Caesar, Napoleon and Press Freedom
I'm reminded--by the obvious--of a wonderful speech by Margaret Thatcher on the subject of press freedom:
Why is the freedom of the Press so important? It is not because our newspapers are invariably literate, scrupulous and wise. They are not. It is because newspapers exist not only to protect their own freedom, but to defend the freedom of others. That freedom is threatened both at home and abroad.
Your hospitality tonight precludes me from giving you one of those high-minded lectures on the importance of your behaving responsibly, which some politicians in the past have made the mistake of delivering to your profession. In any case, I am bound to say that I am reasonably satisfied with the traditional arrangement under which we politicians leave you journalists to get on with your job while you journalists tell us how to do ours.
It is an arrangement which, for all its exasperations, is essential to the functioning of parliamentary democracy.
Guardians of the public conscience you may be, and it is a noble role; formers of public opinion you certainly are, but you are also, and it is in this that your value largely consists, you are also reflectors of the public mind. Without you politicians would easily find themselves living in a cosy little world of their own imagining, blissfully ignorant, until too late, of what the people thought of them and of their policies.
Charlemagne, Caesar and Napoleon were invited by Brezhnev to view the military parade in Red Square. As the endless procession of rocket troops, armour and guards divisions trundled past, Brezhnev asked Caesar what he felt. "With all this I would not have crossed the Rubicon twice but thrice" was the reply. Brezhnev then asked Charlemagne for his opinion. "Given but half of what I see here, I would not have stopped at the Pyrenees, I would have liberated Saudi Arabia". All this time Napoleon had been sitting with his back to the Procession reading Pravda. Brezhnev, irritated, turned and asked the Emperor for his reaction. "All I know is that if I had had a newspaper like this I would never have learnt of my defeat at Moscow" was his reply.
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Nov '10
Re: Margaret Thatcher on Charlemagne, Caesar, Napoleon and Press Freedom
Margaret Thatcher directly censored her political opponents. If John Major hadn't inherited the policy from her, she would have been the last British Prime Minister to have done so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_Kingdom#Television
You know that when it comes to terrorism I am a hawk, and it was hawkishness that defeated the IRA and forced them to negotiate; but censorship of their supporters was as counterproductive in practice as it was wrong in principle. I'd not read this speech of Thatcher's before, so now I know it was also hypocritical.
Re: Margaret Thatcher on Charlemagne, Caesar, Napoleon and Press Freedom
PooterGeek: Margaret Thatcher directly censored her political opponents. If John Major hadn't inherited the policy from her, she would have been the last British Prime Minister to have done so.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_Kingdom#Television
You know that when it comes to terrorism I am a hawk, and it was hawkishness that defeated the IRA and forced them to negotiate; but censorship of their supporters was as counterproductive in practice as it was wrong in principle. I'd not read this speech of Thatcher's before, so now I know it was also hypocritical. · Mar 5 at 5:28am
Pootergeek! You've commented at last! I actually agree with you that the policy was both counterproductive and wrong. And British libel laws remain a disgrace.
Jan '11
Re: Margaret Thatcher on Charlemagne, Caesar, Napoleon and Press Freedom
This post about Thatcher had me scrambling to see this speech [specifically this portion of it] to see what the reaction of the journalists had been. That is a great joke and it is so loaded with ambiguity as to make it brilliant.
I never really followed Thatcher's career -- I was too young and politics/ideology were very far away from my baseball-focused radar. But in my YouTube unsuccessful quest to see the portion of the speech you're refering to, I found this video of the Iron Lady coming down hard on socialists inside Parliment. Why can't we elect someone like her as our president?
Jul '10
Re: Margaret Thatcher on Charlemagne, Caesar, Napoleon and Press Freedom
Pity that, given the quality of our education system, 90% of the American public wouldn't understand her joke.
Edited on Mar 5, 2011 at 11:27amApr '11
Re: Margaret Thatcher on Charlemagne, Caesar, Napoleon and Press Freedom
Kenneth: Pity that, given the quality of our education system, 90% of the American public wouldn't understand her joke. · Mar 5 at 11:26am
Edited on Mar 05 at 11:27 am
Napoleon learned of his defeat at Moscow from the newspapers?