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The Sheffield Star Lied About Hillsborough

Sheffield Anarchist | 13.09.2012 09:52 | Sheffield

The first place lurid lies about Liverpool fans first appeared was in Sheffield's 'The Star' "newspaper" on 18th April 1989.

The report into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster once again exposes the role of ‘The Sun’ as a generator of lies on behalf of the police and the powerful. With the bodies of 95 (later 96) men, women, and children barely cold, ‘The Sun’ published the most sickening calumnies, cooked up by South Yorkshire Police to try and take the heat off themselves. These smears included lurid tales about drunken Liverpool fans urinating over emergency workers, stealing from the dead, and even orchestrating the disaster.

While most of us wouldn’t deign to spit on a copy of ‘The Sun’, it is worth noting that the filthy lies generated by South Yorkshire Police did not appear there first, but in another lying rag; Sheffield’s own ‘The Star’ newspaper. Their disgusting coverage can be viewed in the PDF above.

Like ‘The Sun’, ‘The Star’ has long been little more than a mouth-piece for South Yorkshire Police and other powerful local interests, and it continues to fulfil that role today as it did in 1989.

Sheffield Anarchist

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

The Star is a lying rag

13.09.2012 18:53

There were several joint picket of the York Street offices of The Star by the Hillsborough Justice campaign and the Justice For Mark Barnsley campaign. Mark Barnsley was an old Sheffield anarchist who the cops fitted-up, the Star lied through their teeth about that case too.

John


From http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/history/media.shtm

13.09.2012 22:30

'Amongst the most vicious of reports of the Disaster was the Sheffield Star and the Yorkshire Post. It should be noted that these would be the two most widely read papers in the Sheffield area and therefore it would be hard to select a jury for the inquests that had not been influenced in some way by their version of the 'facts'. The Sheffield Star reported:

"Many supporters were still propping up the bars at 2.30pm. They raced to the stadium arriving at the Leppings Lane end at the height of the crush. Some of them were the worse for drink, others without tickets were hoping to sneak in..." '

And

'The Sheffield Star was at the forefront of publishing serious allegations from the police:

"FANS IN DRUNKEN ATTACKS ON POLICE: Ticketless thugs staged crush to gain entry… attacked an ambulanceman, threatened firemen and punched and urinated on policemen as they gave the kiss of life to stricken victims." '

Jettison Bettison


Star liars

13.09.2012 22:43

If The Star had to apologise for all the lies and smears its printed over the years the edition would be the size of a dozen yellow pages.

Jettison Bettison


Looks like they'll get away with it too

14.09.2012 12:19

as news breaks that the IPCC are being considered to provide the smokescreen for the police.

Justice for Ian Tomlinson


An open letter to Jeremy Clifford, Editor of the Sheffield Star

15.09.2012 10:14

Dear Mr Clifford,

On a day when other organisations were apologising for their actions before, during and after the Hillsborough Tragedy, the lack of any apology from the Sheffield Star is conspicuous by its absence.

The Sun Newspaper have apologised unreservedly for their reporting of the Hillsborough tragedy and described it as "the blackest day in this newspaper's history". However late and hollow this apology is I am saddened and disappointed to see that the Sheffield Star has made no reference to its own reporting of the tragedy.

Under the front page headline "Fans in Drunken Attacks on Police: Ticketless thugs staged crush to gain entry" your newspaper reported the allegations of the police which have now been entirely discredited. Yet the Sheffield Star has chosen to make no reference to this in the days following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel Report.

Although the Sheffield Star's reporting may have been made with a "lesser degree of certainty" to that of the Sun’s, the fact remains that these lies were printed on the front page, under a headline which forced these untruths firmly into the public eye.

The Hillsborough Independent Panel found no evidence to support the story that your newspaper ran on the 18th April 1989 and yet your organisation has done nothing to distance itself or apologise for reporting these lies.

It is almost beyond belief that in May 2012 you saw fit publish an apology to “Sheffield United Football Club, its fans and people who were upset by this” for an advert placed in your newspaper by Sheffield Wednesday supporters mocking Sheffield United’s inability to gain promotion, and yet you have chosen to ignore the hurt and upset that you caused the families and friends of the 96 dead, and the people of Liverpool, by your reporting of the despicable lies surrounding the events of this day.

Many Sheffield organisations have come under the spotlight as a result of the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel Report, and most have had the dignity and grace to apologise for the part that they played in the disaster. Today your organisation should feel ashamed that you have not sought to do the same.

Matt Cox
mail e-mail: Matthew.cox5@btinternet.com