Editing Clive Ponting (section)

===Charges under the Official Secrets Act===
Shortly after his resignation, ''[[The Observer]]'' began to serialise Ponting's book ''The Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair''. The Conservative government reacted by amending the secrets legislation and by introducing the [[Official Secrets Act 1989]]. Before the trial, a jury could take the view that if an action could be seen to be in the public interest, the right of the individual to take that action might be justified. As a result of the 1989 modification, that defence was removed. After the enactment, it was taken that {{"'}}public interest' is what the government of the day says it is".

The events of Ponting's charge and trial were dramatised by Richard Monks on [[BBC Radio Four]] in May 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Belgrano. Part 2 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016xjr |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>