ABSTRACT
The decision to abolish the Greater London Council (GLC), announced in October 1983, was not greeted with the public enthusiasm that the government had expected. Indeed, shortly after the government's announcement, 54% of Londoners opposed the GLC's closure, while only 23% approved. Public confusion about the GLC arose partly from the contradictory accounts of the council supplied by rival media. In 1981–3, the tabloid press portrayed the GLC in overwhelmingly negative terms, whereas television and radio were much more inclined to report the GLC in terms of a neutral or implicitly positive news agenda. The media reported the GLC in divergent ways partly because they were subject to different regulatory regimes. The popular press was unregulated and partisan, whereas broadcasting was required by law to inform and display due impartiality. However, the more important, but related, cause of the divergence arose from differing news values.
