'There's no such thing as society'?

A study of broadcasting and the public services under the three Thatcher governments, 1979-1990

'There’s no such thing as society'? was an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project based in Bournemouth Media School’s Centre for Broadcasting History Research. It investigated the ways in which the UK broadcast media reflected and mediated the changing political, economic and ideological climate in the period of Margaret Thatcher's premiership.

The Award ran from January 2008 to January 2010.

Its website can be found at www.nosuch-research.co.uk.

A study of broadcasting and the public services

It is generally accepted that the Conservative governments of the 1980s brought about a radical restructuring of the politics and economics of the UK, moving away from the post-war, social democratic settlement towards 'rolling back the state' and giving greater power to the market.

Against the background of Prime Minister Thatcher's notorious claim "there's no such thing as society, only individuals and families", the research considers how the political and economic changes were represented by the broadcast output of the time, particularly in relation to social policy and the health service. The research monitored the project of deregulation, privatisation and the move towards free-market economics, both as it was explicitly presented on radio and television by Prime Minister Thatcher and her colleagues, and as it was mediated across the genres. We found a very broad range of opinions, reactions and programme styles. We also took into account the changes within the broadcast media themselves, and a detailed case study focuses on programmes dealing with the National Health Service and public health issues.

Against this background, the study considers how and in what ways the broadcast media helped to renegotiate and redefine the concept of 'the public' in the Thatcher era.

The study contributes to a historical understanding of the circulation of ideas and attitudes, as well as the mediation of factual information. It throws light on the ways in which the public debate was conducted and developed within the national broadcast media throughout the 1980s.

Methodology

• Central to the study is an audit/inventory of the national radio and terrestrial television output between 1979 and 1990. We consulted databases and listings magazines to identify relevant programmes.
• We considered broadcast output in all genres, ranging from documentaries and current affairs, to drama and docu-dramas; from soaps to sitcoms and satirical shows; from lifestyle programming to quiz and game shows.
• We established a database of relevant programming across the genres.

This enables an analysis of the interweaving debates, impressions, opinions, narratives and emotional attitudes within which factual information and changing ideologies and attitudes were embedded.

The website

The nosuch-research website includes pages on specific aspects of 1980s broadcasting including:

• Broadcasting policy
• Radio current affairs
• Drama and comedy
• Factual television
• Daily news

as well as a time-line of key events and key programmes from the 1980s, and notes on the concept of ‘the public’ and public service.

The site also includes papers from the No Such Symposium including:

• Tom O’Malley on broadcasting policy in the 1980s
• Stephen Iliffe on health policy in 1980s
• Tony Stoller on Independent Local Radio in the 1980s
• Ray Fitzwalter on ITV in the 1980s
• Emma Wray on Commercial Radio in the 1980s
• Heather Sutherland on BBC comedy and public service
• Sherryl Wilson on G.F.Newman’s The Nation’s Health
• Peter Lee-Wright on BBC’s Community Programme Unit
• Nick Gray on YTV’s Jimmy’s
• David McQueen on Panorama

The research team

Principal Investigator was Patricia Holland, Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth Media School. She is the author of The Angry Buzz: 'This Week' and current affairs television (I.B.Tauris 2006). Her other publications include The Television Handbook (Routledge 2nd edition 2000) and numerous articles on aspects of media and visual culture. She has a special interest in popular photography and representations of children and childhood.

Co-investigator Dr Hugh Chignell is Associate Professor of Broadcasting History at Bournemouth University's Media School. He is the author of Key Concepts in Radio Studies and Public Issue Radio (Palgrave Macmillan 2011).

Co-investigator Dr Sherryl Wilson is based at the University of the West of England. Her publications include Oprah, celebrity and Formations of Self (Palgrave, 2003)and 'Real People with Real Problems'?: Public Service Broadcasting, Commercialism and Trisha' in Catherine Johnson and Rob Turnock (eds), ITV Cultures: Independent Television Over Fifty Years (Open University Press, 2005). She has experience of working in the National Health Service for the period under examination.

Post-doctoral researcher was Dr Georgia Eglezou. She holds a Ph.D in History at the School of Historical Studies of the University of Birmingham with expertise in European History of 20th century. She is the author of The Greek Media in World War I and its Aftermath: The Athenian Press and the Asia Minor Crisis, London: I. B. Tauris, 2000). Her particular research interests focus on the representation of political history of Greece in 20th century in the Greek and International media.

The original idea for the project came from the Southern Universities Broadcasting History Group, who acted as a supervisory committee. This group is made up of prominent researchers based at Royal Holloway, University of London; University of Sussex; University of Reading; University of West of England; University of Kent; University of Warwick as well as Bournemouth University. It also includes a representative from the BBC's Information and Archives.

For more information on the project contact: pholland@bournemouth.ac.uk