Liverpool Football Club have banned reporters of The Sun newspaper from entering Anfield premises due to their coverage of the Hillsborough disaster.
The Independent have claimed that The Sun reporters will be denied accreditations to cover Liverpool matches and thereby denying the newspaper’s football journalists an entry into Anfield for any football activity.
They will also be denied any access to the manager and his players for any interviews. The Club’s directors arrived at a conclusion after discussion with those families of the victims who tragically passed away in 1989.
Three days after the disaster, on April 18, 1989, the last of the 96 victims, Tony Bland was stopped life-support after an irreversible brain damage occurred. It was tragic and it caused pain and distress to a lot of families.
A day after this tragedy, The Sun ran a story on April 19 1989, with a headline, “The Truth”, which had an accusation from an anonymous South Yorkshire policeman, who had claimed that Liverpool supporters had “picked pockets of victims” and “urinated on brave cops” and also that some of them beat up policemen giving the “kiss of life”.
The accusations, however, have been proved as false and a jury found out last April that the victims were unlawfully killed. It only came after a 27-year battle for justice that was led by the families of those who died in the tragic event.
Following the verdict, The Sun and The Times both decided to not leave any mention about the verdict and the decision came under heavy criticism. A campaign to boycott ‘The Sun’ gathered momentum when the Hillsborough Family Support Group gave its backing to ‘The Total Eclipse of The S*n’ campaign, and it led to many retailers across Liverpool deciding against stocking the newspaper.
The families claim that the false reports caused the delay in pursuit of justice, with the legal campaign lasting for 27 years, until the verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ was given last year.
However, The Sun and their then editor Kelvin McKenzie have apologised, many years after the false coverage, but the apology has not been accepted, neither by the relatives of the victims nor by the Liverpool fans on the whole.
While Liverpool Football Club have failed to comment on this, The Sun issued a statement to The Independent, stating:
“The Sun and Liverpool FC have had a solid working relationship for the 28 years since the Hillsborough tragedy. Banning journalists from a club is bad for fans and bad for football. The Sun can reassure readers this won’t affect our full football coverage.
“The Sun deeply regrets its reporting of the tragic events at Hillsborough and understands the damage caused by those reports is still felt by many in the city. A new generation of journalists on the paper congratulate the families on the hard-fought victory they have achieved through the inquest. It is to their credit that the truth has emerged and, whilst we can’t undo the damage done, we would like to further a dialogue with the city and to show that the paper has respect for the people of Liverpool.”
Well, it is not acceptable under any circumstance, to disrespect souls that are God’s own, never mind if they’re alive or dead. Humanity must always stand ahead of business motive and The Sun certainly didn’t make the right choice in reporting the worst sporting disaster in British history.
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