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The Sun Liverpool FC Media

The Sun labels Liverpool FC ban on its reporters ‘bad for fans and bad for football’

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By Jessica Goodfellow, Media Reporter

February 11, 2017 | 3 min read

The Sun has responded to Liverpool FC's ban of its reporters over the paper’s coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, calling it "bad for fans and bad for football"

The Sun's front page four days after the Hillsborough tragedy

The Sun's front page four days after the Hillsborough tragedy

On Thursday (9 February) the football club withdrew accreditation for the newspaper's journalists, preventing them from attending matches, visiting the club's training facility or interviewing players and coaching staff.

The ban relates to the paper's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, in which The Sun wrongly placed the blame on Liverpool fans, falsely claiming the fans stole from the dead and urinated on corpses under the headline ‘The Truth’.

Last year an inquest found that the 96 fans who died in the Hillsborough tragedy were unlawfully killed.

The day after that verdict, both The Sun and its sister title The Times came under fire for failing to print the inquest verdict on their front pages. The Times later apologised and carried the verdict on its front page.

The Sun apologised for its coverage of Hillsborough in 2012 in a front page spread titled 'The Real Truth'.

Today (11 February) the paper recalled its regret over its reporting of the tragedy in a statement sent to the Independent: "The Sun deeply regrets its reporting of the tragic events at Hillsborough and understands the damage caused by those reports is still felt by many in the city."

It added that whilst it "can't undo the damage done", it would like to "further a dialogue" with the people of the city to make amends.

"Banning journalists from a club is bad for fans and bad for football," it stated.

The paper went on to reassure readers that the ban "won't affect our full football coverage".

The Sun Liverpool FC Media

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