Broadcasting and the NHS in the Thatcherite 1980s: The Challenge to Public Service [Paperback]

Patricia Holland offers a fascinating study of the ways in which changes to public services, and shifts in the concept of 'the public' under Margaret Thatcher's three Conservative governments, were mediated by radio and television in the 1980s.Prologue: Echoes of the 1980s Introduction: Thatcherism, the Public and Writing Broadcasting History PART I: PROGRAMMES AND CHRONOLOGY 1927 - 1970 1. Myths of Origin: Public Service or the Road to Serfdom? PART II: PROGRAMMES AND CHRONOLOGY 1970 - 1980 2. Freedom and the Public: Campaigner, Participant, Consumer 3. Broadcasting into the 1980s PART III: PROGRAMMES AND CHRONOLOGY 1979 - 1983 4. Restructuring Social Class 5. From Needs to Wants: Restructuring Audiences, Restructuring Patients 6. Your Life in Whose Hands? Restructuring Professionals PART IV: PROGRAMMES AND CHRONOLOGY 1983 - 1987 7. The Third Age and the Fresh Winds of Market Forces: Restructuring Broadcasting 8 Griffiths, Peacock and Restructuring Public Service 9. Aids and 'the public' at Risk PART V: PROGRAMMES AND CHRONOLOGY 1986 - 1990 10. Who's the Casualty? Popular Programmes 11. The NHS and Third Term Politics 12. 'Quality' and the Broadcasting White Paper Postscript: Public Service or Kitemark?

'In a period in which the neo-liberal assault by all the three major political parties in the UK on the post-1945 welfare settlement has intensified, this book provides valuable insights into the relationship between politics, health and broadcasting in the 1980s when this process was set in motion. It is a serious and thoughtful engagement with the complex relationships that exist between broadcasting and society and deserves a wide readership.' - Professor Tom O'Malley, Aberystwyth University, UK

'To consider two of the most prominent public services in the UK broadcasting and the National Health Service (NHS) across one decade might seem like an unmanageable task. However, in the hands of experienced and respected broadlã²