ABSTRACT
Coverage provided readers with news, explanation, and editorial commentary. Financial journalists were assisted in varying degrees by guidance from the Bank of England and the Treasury. Generally the authorities took the view that the less said about the pound the better, but if events required comment it should be supportive of official policy and the current exchange rate. Mostly the press was anxious not to undermine the pound and wary of provoking or exacerbating a sterling crisis, whatever journalists' private views of policy. The Financial Times merged with the Financial News in 1945; circulation of the combined paper rose from 62,000, to 167,000 in 1967, and to 253,000 in 1986. Prime Minister Harold Wilson even forbade ministers and civil servants from discussing devaluation, which became known as the 'unmentionable'. Successive British governments resisted sterling's devaluation, both because of its symbolism and because it impoverished consumers, who had to pay more for imports, and threatened inflation.
