Leftist censorship of a newspaper

"The Sun" got it wrong, as newspapers do at times, but they were not to blame.  They were simply reporting as truth what the police told them. Trusting the British police certainly was unwise but you are supposed to be able to trust them.  Liverpudlian anger should be directed towards their police, not towards a paper that was misled by the police


A campaign calling on newsagents to stop selling copies of The Sun in Liverpool has been backed by the city council.

A motion, put forward by a Labour councillor, received unanimous support and was approved without debate.

The newspaper is already widely shunned on Merseyside for its coverage in the wake of the Hillsborough football disaster and its now discredited ‘The Truth’ front page.

It is sold in very few places, but the motion went one step further and called for a city-wide boycott.  The city’s mayor even said he would ban the paper completely if he could.

But critics described the move as ‘stretching toward censorship’ and akin to rules under a dictatorship.

But Bob Satchwell, from the Society of Editors, said: ‘In a free society people must be free to choose which newspapers they read or sell.

‘The comments from Joe Anderson demonstrate the danger when he says that if he has his way he would ban the Sun. That is what happens in dictatorships and banana republics.’

The discredited 1989 article claimed Liverpool fans were drunk, had pickpocketed the victims and attacked those trying to help the survivors of the football stadium disaster.

It was based on copy from a Sheffield news agency, whose reporters had spoken to police officers, but the claims were later found to be part of a smear campaign to shift blame onto victims.

Other newspapers also ran the allegations, but it was The Sun’s decision to present them as ‘The Truth’ on the front page that provoked outrage in Liverpool and an unofficial boycott.

The Sun carried a full page apology in 2004. And in 2012 former editor Kelvin MacKenzie also said sorry, saying he had been totally misled.

SOURCE