Daily Inspiration Quote by Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher frames censorship as etiquette: not a ban, just a "voluntary code of conduct" the media should "agree among themselves". It is a classic Thatcher move, compressing state interest into the language of common sense and civic duty, then letting social pressure do the enforcement. The question form ("Ought we not...") performs consensus in advance; dissent begins to look like irresponsibility rather than a legitimate argument about power.

The immediate context is the modern hostage spectacle: the hijack as live drama, with cameras, deadlines, and a captive audience. Thatcher’s anxiety isn’t only that terrorists might get tactical help from broadcasts. It’s that publicity is oxygen. The key phrase is "assist the terrorists' morale or their cause" - a psychological battlefield, not just an operational one. She is arguing that attention itself is material support, and that the press, by narrating fear in real time, can end up co-producing the event.

The subtext is a contest over who gets to define national reality during crisis: elected government or mass media. By shifting the issue from "information" to "morale", she widens the net. Morale is slippery; almost any vivid reporting could be accused of strengthening the enemy’s spirit. That vagueness is the point. It creates a chilling effect without the messiness of legislation, keeping the government’s hands formally clean while tightening the boundaries of permissible coverage.

It’s consequential rhetoric because it asks journalists to internalize the state’s priorities at the very moment when skepticism is most necessary. The hijack is temporary; the habit of restraint can last.