Hillsborough

We have instigated many conversations recently concerning the tragic events at Hillsborough nearly twenty years ago. To our dismay it has become increasingly clear that there are still many people who still believe wrongly, that Liverpool fans were some how to blame for the tragic events that ended with the deaths of 96 Liverpool football fans. On the 19th April 1989, four days after the tragedy, The Sun newspaper misinformed the population in a completely fabricated account of events in the most grotesque sensationalist manor imaginable written under the bold headline The Truth.

Over 4 million people in the UK bought the Sun Newspaper on this day. A figure nearer to 10 million would have been likely to read these vicious lies. Is it any wonder that there are still many who believe that drunken football hooligans were to blame for this tragedy? So why would a British newspaper intentionally wish to misinform the population concerning events on this day?

To answer this question you really do not have to dig too deep to come to some pretty clear conclusions. A very brief look at the history of the Sun newspaper would certainly suggest that this newspaper masquerades as a friend of the working man, while in reality consistently stabs them in the back. Don’t just take our word for it, you only have to speak to many members of the Fire Brigade who were seeking a pay rise in recent years that worked out to be only an equivalent of about seven pounds an hour for their important work, when the Sun began to smear the leaders of the Fire brigades union in attempt to turn public opinion against them.

Or indeed feel free to speak to ex-minors that were fighting for the survival of their jobs and communities in the early eighties and see what many of these hard working men think of the newspaper and their attacks on their union leader at the time Arthur Scargill. It is criminal that agenda driven corporate newspapers like The Sun are free to smear individuals. Muddying reputations is a practice carried out by newspapers in the UK and it should be illegal and carry massive custodial consequences as to destroy a reputation is not that different from murder, as one’s personality and reputation is their identity.

The Sun does not simply report the news any more it creates perceptions and forms opinions that suit the agenda of Rupert Murdoch and his powerful friends. Newspapers get away with printing untruths every day as they are not held properly accountable for their actions. Relative prominence of apologies and corrections and an automatic right of reply for citizens misrepresented by the press would as a direct consequence mean national newspapers would be forced to exert themselves to report real news and be less likely to lie and report stories from dubious sources. This can only be a good thing for truth, justice and real journalism and to be honest anybody that tells you any different has an interest in keeping our population dumbed down and unaware.

Please take the time to sign our petition and help bring truth and justice into UK Journalism. The press should be the eyes and ears and voice of the people, holding power accountable, not the voice of power telling the masses what to think.