Thatcher Cabinet Discussed Jailing Reporters Over Riot Coverage

Margaret Thatcher’s government considered arresting journalists covering riots in Britain in 1981 as it blamed the media for fomenting violence in inner-city areas, according to previously secret Cabinet papers.

Like David Cameron’s Tory-led government amid riots this year, Thatcher’s Conservative Cabinet wrestled with the violence that spread across cities including London, Liverpool and Manchester in the summer of 1981. While Cameron looked at shutting down social-media networks, Thatcher turned against television companies and considered a change in the law to allow reporters covering riots to be arrested, papers released today after the statutory 30-year delay show.