Off Topic Sun Goes down !

A campaign calling on retailers in Liverpool to stop selling The Sun has received the unanimous backing of city councillors.

The newspaper has been widely boycotted in the city because of its accusations following the Hillsborough disaster.

A motion put forward at a meeting on Wednesday night condemned the paper for its "blatant lies" about the tragedy, in which Liverpool 96 fans were killed.

The Society of Editors said the council was "stretching towards censorship".

'Banana republics'
Put forward by Labour councillor Mary Rasmussen at Liverpool Town Hall, the motion said: "Due to crowd control mismanagement those fans, whose ages ranged from 10 to 67 years old, had the life crushed out of them.


"Contrary to the facts, The S*n published a front page story with the banner headline 'The Truth' which contained blatant lies.

"For this reason we call on all retailers and vendors of newspapers in Liverpool to stop selling The S*n," said the motion, which recognised the efforts of the campaign group Total Eclipse of the S*n to "rid" the city of the newspaper.

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Image copyright Hillsborough Inquests
Image caption The claims made beneath the infamous headline have been entirely discredited
The Sun said it had no comment on the vote, although the newspaper and the editor at the time of the Hillsborough tragedy have previously apologised for the coverage.

Relatives of Hillsborough victims attended the full council meeting, where mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said the newspaper would "never, ever be forgiven", and if he could legally do so he "would ban it from shops across the city".

However, Bob Satchwell, from the Society of Editors, which represents about 400 media outlets, 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."

Everton-based newsagent Ronald Butterfield also said it was "wrong for the council to get involved".

"I don't sell it but it is up to people to decide."

He added: "When I tell people who aren't from Liverpool I don't sell it they look at me like I've got knickers on my head.

"One Liverpool man who always bought it for the horses not the news cancelled it because he was worried about the paperboy being seen delivering it."

Explaining why a council-backed campaign was necessary in a city where The Sun is widely boycotted, Emily Heywood of the Total Eclipse of the S*n group said that with new newsagents and changing owners some retailers "had started selling it again and it wasn't being questioned".

All 96 fans who died as a result of a crush at Hillsborough were unlawfully killed, their inquests concluded in April.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-37368119

 

It doesn't need a ban, it's down to personal choice, and most choose not to buy it. I'm against stuff like this tbh.

 

I'm with Tobes on this ,banning it is a slippery slope.I never bought said "newspaper" before and have no intention of ever doing so but is should be an individuals choice. Just as long as the 96 are remembered the boycott will hold and a voluntary boycott is in some ways is a more effective testament to the disgust felt by the people of merseyside about the sllurs aimed at them all.

 

Sometime I have seen good articles published by the sun regarding transfers rumours etc and too scared
to reproduce it. It's a way of snubbing the sun also.

 

Where's the ban?

Joe saying he'd like a ban is just an opinion - "if he could legally"

Isn't this just the council saying that they support the idea of not buying/selling the Sun?

An #official statement condemning the Sun is just and democratic and I'm only surprised it hasn't already happened

 

There is no ban

The council is just saying it isn't #neutral

It happens all the time

Plenty of governments condemned the North Korean missile test, doesn't mean they're going to war

 

didn't say there was a ban
the council wants to ban but says it can't which was why i pointed out individuals boycotting said product is in PR tems more effective plus retailers will not stock products which don't sell

 

I don't blame some of you for not being up to date with this. I live in Liverpool so am closer to it. The campaign to boycott the filthy rag has stepped up following the conclusion of the inquests. There is no ban just a request for an all out boycott.

 

Where does it even say the council wants to ban? Only Joe wants a ban, talking it up as is his wont #itk

 

^This.

#meltdown

 

Same mate. It's up to individuals to choose. Forcing a decision upon people doesn't carry the same weight either

 

The 'Don't buy the S*n' boycott has been there since the event, and it's sales figures in Liverpool have been virtually knack all ever since.

Stepping up a campaign against it again now seems futile to me, as the few who still buy it will know the history, and have therefore made their choice.

Most of us watch football on Sky (legally or otherwise), and listen to TS, which are all now part of the Murdoch empire, and we're therefore hypocrites tbh, as we should have all boycotted the entire News International portfolio. Colin Murray jacked his job in at TS the minute Murdoch bought it, notably Micky 'the horse starver' Quinn is still on the payroll.

 

There is no ban mate so what is it you're against?

 

It's says ban in the OP and article so the suggestion of a ban...

Edit: okay, a boycott by shops. Effectively the same thing, it still stops individuals making their own choice unless they drive outside the city

 

People should have the good sense not to buy it anyway. One because it's a lying, deceitful, nasty piece of ****. Two because it's just ****

Be hard to get like sainsbos, tescots and the other supermercados to stop selling it being big multinationals and all that

Whole media industry is a corrupted cesspool anyway, by buying and reading any sort of paper or website you're submitting yourself to one kind of moral compromise and distorted view of the world

 

Since Rupert Murdoch took over the sun it has not been a good Newspaper.

 

That's where you're wrong. The boycott campaign has got over 100 shops [probably more by now] to stop selling it. My local Tesco stopped selling it and in interview the manager of the store said people aren't buying it so why stock it, it was stocked because of company policy.

 

Excuse my potential ignorance here, but what is the boycott campaign going to achieve?

 

Less sales revenue, and if companies and Organisations decide not to advertise in the sun (Merseyside) drop in overall income of Sun nationally.

 

With all due respect to those that support our club(and the blues)but don't live in the area its understandable that you'd possibly have a less volatile view of the issue, Liverpool city council lost potential investment because of that lying headline(along with heysel and the Tory battle with militant labour as well as the so called "managed decline of Liverpool" by Thatcher's government), it might not have been the defining factor but along with other factors it was part of the bigger picture.
Joe or any local mp or councilor have the right to continue to kick the rag in the teeth due to the lasting damage it did to the city they represent.

As for individual citizens of Liverpool, yes they have the right to purchase(or not)the lying rag from an outlet that sells it, but those who heavily oppose it being on sale in the city also have the right to their opinion.

Considering the majority of the population of the city now have internet access they could always read it online for free, that way they're not in line for stick at their local newsagent's and not paying cash for their addiction to the lying bog roll.