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Should the Union Boycott The Sun?

 Proposer name:

Louise Rice

 

What the idea is about:

I would like the union should stop selling the sun newspaper and let people know why.

Why have you proposed it?

After 96 football fans lost their lives at Hillsborough in 1989, before the families of the dead had even had time to arrange their funerals, this newspaper printed disgusting lies about the supporters involved in the incident that could not have been further from the truth It claimed that they had stolen from the dead and urinated on policemen trying to help the victims. The paper later admitted that the allegations were false however the damage had been done. 22 years later and the families of the victims have only just been allowed to access all of the documents relating to the tragedy. The way the disaster was painted in the media particularly by this paper DID affect the way it was handled. For more information on how the events of 15th April 1989 were reported in this paper please go to the following website: http://www.kopsource.com/hillsborough-dont-buy-the-sun/ I know this happened 22 years ago but it is something that I believe should not be forgiven or forgotten. Particularly after the News of the world scandal, (a newspaper also owned by news international) proof that these people do not deserve the money of Leeds university Students. Don't Buy the Sun

Comments

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James Hanson
8:45pm on 14 Feb 12 I am a Liverpool supporter and would never buy 'The Sun' because of their coverage of the Hillsbrough tragedy. However, banning things is we disagree with is the sign of a break-down of tolerance and acceptance of diversity. If people want to buy the paper, they are within their right to. People power (i.e. people not buying the Sun) is a far more effective way of getting a paper shut down (as the News of the World realised) than banning something.
Cris Lea
12:19pm on 29 Nov 11 I agree with a boycott on many basis' however it should be on a personal level, not a business level. If students go to the shop for a drink, sandwich and paper, and cannot get all three, they will most likely not get the other two (especially considering the constant 3 person thick line awaiting any customers)at that shop, and whill go elsewhere.
Matthew Cole
6:21am on 29 Nov 11 No. It is an individual choice what paper to read. this aint nazi germany!
Amy Campbell
6:31pm on 14 Nov 11 Can we please stop try to ban things as a first response to our diagreement with them? Why not campaign about WHY we shouldn't read The Sun rather than seek to ban it. Bans like this don't change people's habits, people would just buy elsewhere and the union would lose money as a consequence. If you educate students about WHY they should morally object to The Sun then they might stop reading it altogether, which would surely be a better aim? Bottom line, Essentials is (in this respect) a business, it will stop stocking a product if no-one buys it. That would surely say a lot more than a ban. Also, it doesn't win support for your cause, or any cause, if you seek to restrict people's freedoms in the first instance. If, however, you present people with information that they didn't know (particularly bearing in mind that many people studying at our university were born after the event in question) than they are much more likely to be sympathetic to your viewpoint.
Jamie Mellor
2:39pm on 8 Nov 11 Although I don't read the Sun, I disagree. People should be allowed to make their own choice of what newspaper they want to read. All newspapers dramatise their stories at one point or another, and although this is an example of where the Sun got it very wrong, to ban one newspaper would mean to ban them all.
James Pothecary
8:05pm on 5 Nov 11 I don't read the Sun, but I fundementally disagree with the idea of being told what newspaper I should and should not read. I understand the emotions behind this proposal, but I don't think it's the right thing to do.
Katharine Howard-comber
7:06pm on 2 Nov 11 I do agree actually. Also I think so because of the way it exploits vunerable girls (P3) instead of reaching out a hand to help them.
Emma Kerry
4:03pm on 2 Nov 11 An exsalant idear. If students want to perches it thay can off campus howevere the shop and union should not be seling a paper that is so intriskly anty many grups of studnts. May of the things the sun has writen are ofencive to internatul studnts asply around Visa and imagtion ishus it has also been non to be sexis and homophobi/transphobic.
Emma Kerry
4:03pm on 2 Nov 11 An exsalant idear. If students want to perches it thay can off campus howevere the shop and union should not be seling a paper that is so intriskly anty many grups of studnts. May of the things the sun has writen are ofencive to internatul studnts asply around Visa and imagtion ishus it has also been non to be sexis and homophobi/transphobic.
Paul O'Neill
5:07pm on 31 Oct 11 Personally I think it's kind of insulting to people to tell them they can't buy the Sun because it prints false stories and colours the news with bad reporting. People should be able to work out for themselves what is news and what is printed gossip.
Samuel Stockley
11:33am on 30 Oct 11 As much we might personally question the quality of The Sun as a media outlet, and as much I'm certain we are not alone in our queries in a predominantly left leaning student environment, it's not right to simply boycott the paper. It's not my place to determine what others are allowed to read, what others are allowed to find stimulating or what others might consider news worthy.
Dominic Wade
4:17am on 29 Oct 11 The Sun may be popular for Page 3 girls, but it has no tact for knowing when to show respect. Falklands, Lockerbie and Hillsborough are good examples of this newspaper's lack of respect for the loss of life and it needs to be shown that there are those who find it disrespectful. So I support the idea.
Alexander Crossley
2:43am on 29 Oct 11 I hate no idea bout this scandal around its reporting of Hillsborough, but if i want to buy the sun then it's my right to do so. All media has some scandal, if you dont like it then don't support the mass media. Perhaps we should just go ahead and boycott all of News Internationals titles as well?
William Noble
4:39pm on 28 Oct 11 I'd agree with a boycott of the Sun, but not solely on Hillsborough grounds. Even though, as a Liverpool fan, I don't buy it on that principle, this isn't a Liverpudlian university. However, the constant lapses in proper judgement (see also, the phone-hacking scandal, "Gotcha", and "That's for Lockerbie") could lock in justification.
Published: 28 Oct 2011 14:36 , Last updated: 29 Apr 2013 11:58