Hillsborough petition

[Tones]

I received an email today in response to the online petition i signed for "Demand Justice for Hillsborough and put pressure on the Sun Newspaper to Print a Full Apology on their Front page Condeming Their Lies Bringing Justice for the 96."

 

Reply i got was:

 

The events at Hillsborough on April 15th, 1989 were one of the worst tragedies in the post-war history of Britain, and one which united the whole country in mourning.

 

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the tragedy next year, our thoughts remain with the families and friends of the deceased, and we remain absolutely committed to ensuring that sort of tragedy is never repeated.

 

All of us remember The Sun's coverage of the tragedy at the time under its then editor Mr MacKenzie. It was right that The Sun apologized for that coverage in 2004, calling it the worst mistake in the history of the paper.

 

Nevertheless, we fully appreciate the strong emotions that are still aroused over this issue, and which form the basis of your petition.

 

However, we cannot accept your particular proposal.

 

We believe that it is fit and right that individual readers are free to complain to editors about the content of their newspapers, and that they also have the right to ask for their complaints to be investigated by the independent Press Complaints Commission.

 

However, we also believe that the principle that the press is free from government control is fundamental to how our democracy works, and as such, we do not believe the government should ever instruct a newspaper either what it must publish, or on what page of the newspaper.

 

We are sorry if you find this reply disappointing, but we hope you appreciate the fundamental principle at stake.

 

I do find this disappointing but not surprising.

Edited February 26, 2008 by t1971

[Sion]

I got it, and agree. As much as i'd like to see it, it's not their job to interfere with such things and would create a dangerous precident if they did.

[badtodabone]

I got it, and agree. As much as i'd like to see it, it's not their job to interfere with such things and would create a dangerous precident if they did.

 

sadly id have to agree

[RP]

Who was the reply from?

[Tones]

Just "10 Downing Street"

[John am Rhein]

I got it, and agree. As much as i'd like to see it, it's not their job to interfere with such things and would create a dangerous precident if they did.

 

Dangerous precedent, my a***. The government should (and does) have the power to shut newpapers down completely, let alone force them to print an apology on their front page.

[kop205]

Don't really understand why an apology that they had been directed to print would mean anything anyway, or would be anything better than the half-arsed stuff they have already produced as a way of trying to claw back their decimated sales.

 

It would have to be a genuine, unprompted, heartfelt apology that wasn't motivated by self-interest for it to mean anything. And even then I wouldn't buy the paper simply because it is s****.

 

It is boycotted and until the point at which we get the kind of apology outlined above (i.e. never) it will continue to be boycotted. I think there are now other battles to fight vis a vis Hillsborough than the Sun - that one we've efectively won by wiping out their sales.

[The Hitman]

As an interesting note,my Dad was telling me about something that McKenzie once said to John Major after Black Wednesday.

Major called him up: "I suppose you're not going to take this too well,are you Mr McKenzie?"

McKenzie: "John,I've got a f*cking massive bucket of sh*t sitting here on my desk,and it's going all over your head."

 

Imagine the likes of Churchill calling up a c*nt like him or being concerned over what a rag of a paper like that was going to print.

Jesus wept.

[RP]

Governments would be stupid not to have working relationships with such powerful mouthpieces. Sad but true.

[The Hitman]

Aye,a working relationship.

Not having a man like Kelvin MacKenzie speak to the Prime Minister of this country in that way.

But yes,it is sad.