Home Office advertising in the Sun
Page 41 in the Sun newspaper today is dedicated to an advertising feature on the Policing Pledge (a new fangled idea to engage the public with the police).
So I contacted the Home Office to ask about the logic of using the Sun as an outlet for this particular item just days before the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy.
I was told the feature has also appeared in the Mail and the Express and on billboards, etc.
"Looks like they want a right wing response then," says Merseyside Police Authority member Paul Clein.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to find out that using the Sun to engage the public in Merseyside is not going to do it," he added.
UPDATE: I've been informed by Merseyside Police Authority that the Policing Pledge editorial feature will also be appearing in the ECHO and other local papers on Merseyside.
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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What?! Well done Dave - you've probably just won the "most stupid question of the year from a journalist" at the Home Office.
Unlike Merseyside, the vast majority of the rest of the country doesn't even remember "The Truth" story, and far fewer still believed it in the first place because it was quickly discredited.
I have lots of sympathy for people affected by Hillsborough, and the story was outrageous. But the Sun has subsequently apologised and the editorial team is now completely different.
The city should be big enough to accept the apology and target its anger at the source of the lie.
Of course, it won't happen. Because Liverpool loves playing the victim. And because the company which pays your wages will not hesitate in keeping the row going, because of its own vested interests.
Shame on you for wasting time asking such a ridiculous question. They must have been wondering what you were blabbering about.
It took me five minutes to work out the tenuous link myself.
Tina,
Thanks for the comments. When I called the Home Office I had been told that the feature was going to be appearing solely in the Sun, so I don't think it was unfair to ask the question or wasting time. I take your point about it being a different editorial team at the Sun. The point I was making was that the Sun newspaper is still very unpopular on Merseyside, and that as such the feature in the Sun would not be engaging many people in this area. As you can see I was wrong and I have updated my blog with the fresh information, but I still think I was right to ask the question as this is still a very emotive issue in Liverpool.
I agree that Trinity Mirror, proprietor of the Daily Mirror as well as the Echo & Daily Post, views the Sun, & Murdoch's News International generally, as a rival. However, Tina should be aware that the editor of the Sun who authorised "The Truth" story, Kelvin MacKenzie, continues to be employed by the paper as a columnist. Indeed, MacKenzie used his column last year to repeat the lies he printed 20 years ago.
"The city should be big enough to accept the apology and target its anger at the source of the lie."
Let's nail this myth: The Sun DID NOT apologise for its Hillsborough coverage. It wasn't until the paper serialised Wayne Rooney's book a few years ago, & the subsequent negative reaction on Merseyside, that it acknowledged the fact that it lied. As for targeting our anger at the source of the lie, MacKenzie is certainly culpable. So, too, are senior officers from ASouth Yorkshire police, one of whom later became Chief Constable of Merseyside police force & a Tory MP for one of the Sheffield constituencies at the time, whom I've named on my blog.
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