Leveson and Hillsborough
We need a free and fearless press.
Without it, one of the biggest cover-ups this country has seen would probably never have been exposed.
We will always be grateful to the journalists who wouldn’t let go. And we continue to rely on them in our on-going fight for justice for the 96.
But the Hillsborough families have seen both sides of the British press. For us, it will always be a double-edged sword.
The press, and one newspaper in particular, helped create a false account of a tragedy. It was used by the powerful to put the cover-up in place.
Disgraceful lies were told about the victims and survivors of a tragedy, causing unbearable pain to grieving families.
At its most basic level, our 23-year fight has been a fight to clear the names of our loved-ones and the survivors.
We should never have had to do that.
When the Taylor Report dismissed the lies that were printed, full redress should have followed. It didn’t - and many lives have been blighted as a result.
Our experiences should have told the country 23 years ago that something was seriously wrong.
In our story there are the same hallmarks of other more recent abuses that Lord Justice Leveson has considered - unacceptable collusion between powerful figures in police and press that added to the pain of the powerless and innocent.
Hillsborough was an early warning on a grand scale of the press acting as a law unto itself, writing its own rules. The people ofLiverpoolwere 20 years ahead of the rest of the country in boycotting a certain paper.
Noone else was listening - but if they had been, perhaps we wouldn’t have seen some of the more recent events that have been the focus of the Leveson Inquiry.
What happened to us must never be allowed to happen to others. Where lines are crossed and lies are told, it can’t be the case that people with access to expensive lawyers are the only ones who can get redress.
The press must always be there to hold the powerful to account.
But what happens when it turns on the powerless instead?
That has happened too many times to too many ordinary British families and that is why we feel now we must make this a moment for change.
Margaret Aspinall
Chairman, HFSG
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I totally agree with the article above, and have just signed the petition to implement the Leveson recommendations in full: http://hackinginquiry.org/petition
I also emailed my MP Diane Abbott, asking her to convey my views to the Prime Minister. I included these comments:
“I personally would like to add that last week I heard that odious man Kelvin Mackenzie speaking on LBC Radio, justifying his appalling treatment of the Hillsborough victims in the Sun whilst he was Editor. At no time did he admit any blame or regret at what he’d done, and the suffering he’d caused, but only criticized others for “duping” him, and talked of his woes of being doorstepped by Channel 4 News. This is the type of warped morality of some powerful Murdoch journalists, who have been allowed to get away with it for years, and hold great influence and sway in British society, and on public opinion in a wholly negative and destructive way, causing intense misery and suffering to many innocent people.”