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Battle for the Airwaves

Battle for the Airwaves: Episode 3

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Factual: Politics

Episode 3

BBC Radio 4 - Battle for the Airwaves, Episode 3

The bitter clash between the broadcasters and Sir Eden's government during the Suez crisis

Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor, examines the bitter clash between the broadcasters and Sir Anthony Eden's government during the Suez crisis in the autumn of 1956.

Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor, continues his series on relations between broadcasters and politicians. In this programme he looks at the bitter clash between the broadcasters and Sir Anthony Eden, Prime Minister during the Suez crisis in the autumn of 1956. Eden wanted to exert greater control over the BBC during what he regarded as a national emergency, but the BBC saw Suez as being more of a political crisis.

In previous programmes, Nick Robinson looked at the impact of the General Strike in 1926, and the clash over foreign policy during the 1930s and Churchill's wartime broadcasts.

In later programmes, he examines the relationship between broadcasters and politicians during more recent crises - the row between the Labour Party and the BBC in the early 1970s; the clashes over reporting 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland, culminating in the broadcasting ban on terrorists; the Falklands War; Iraq; and the relationship between broadcasters and politicians in the age of 24-hour news.

Producer: Rob Shepherd.

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Nick Robinson presents a series on the relationship between broadcasters and politicians

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