The Scum — sorry, The Sun, have been a British tabloid newspaper since 1964, owned by Rupert Murdoch. Over the years, the publication has found itself in numerous controversies, making it one of the country’s most disliked news outlets.
Here’s 5 reasons why you should avoid The Sun at all costs:
- Rupert Murdoch is a very bad man
Rupert Murdoch owns a company called News Corp, who essentially run the majority of the worlds news publications. His newspaper companies tend to cherry pick their facts, often distorting the truth and tricking gullible people into believing every word that is written. The Sun is one of his most used weapons to leak such nonsense.
2. Hillsborough
On 15th April 1989, 97 football supporters went to a football match at Hillsborough Stadium, but did not return. In a match where Liverpool faced Nottingham Forest in the semi final of the FA Cup, extreme overcrowding occurred in the stands, caused by police match commander, David Duckenfield, who’d ordered an exit gate to be opened, causing an influx of supporters entering the stadium. This resulted in a crush of bodies against the fence guarding the pitch.
Four days after the tragedy, the editor of The Sun at the time, Kelvin MacKenzie, published “The Truth” to be the headline on the front-page, followed by sub-headlines saying: “Some fans picked pockets of victims”, “Some fans urinated on the brave cops” and “Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life”. It was reported Mackenzie spent hours deciding on which headline to run; initially opting for “You Scum”.
It was later proved that these accusations were false and in fact many Liverpool fans helped security personnel stretcher away victims and gave first aid to the injured. To this day, you’ll struggle to find a shop selling The Sun newspaper anywhere in the Merseyside area.
3. Unreliable and outdated sports news
For sports news, it is well known that The Sun used to be one of the best outlets to find out the latest developments, especially for transfer news. However, since the rise of online news publications, The Sun have failed to maintain their elite status when it comes to releasing breaking exclusive news.
There are far and few reliable sports journalists working for The Sun, who will release distorted information about football clubs, just to pretend they have an inside scoop. Only a small percentage of said news will be true, but it will have been moulded in to a totally different headline, to suit the publications agenda.
The perfect example of the is was a front-page print of England footballer Raheem Sterling’s leg tattoo of an M16 assault rifle. The Sun created a story based on bias, reporting that the player would be dropped from the squad due to outrage from campaigners.
This was, of course, not the case and was revealed by Sterling to be a reminder to himself. The Manchester City star posted a story on his social media account saying “When I was 2 my father died from being gunned down, I made a promise to myself I would never touch a gun in my life.”
4. They don’t like you
If you’re an everyday average reader of The Sun, then you have to understand that the publication simply does not like you. The outlet absolutely despises the working-class, hence why they find enjoyment out of tricking their readers with the nonsense headlines they release.
It is known that the publication often switches their favour of political parties to suit their agendas. Whichever party brings hardship on the country, they’ll choose to support.
5. Phone Hacking
Before The Sun on Sunday, came the News of the World, an edition of The Sun that was specifically reserved for Sunday’s. The publication was shut down by the UK government after it was discovered that it had been engaging in phone hacking and police bribery.
Between 2005 to 2007, investigations found that the hacking was just limited to celebrities, politicians and members of the royal family (not that this is an OK thing to do). However, it was later revealed that News of the World were hacking in to the phones of the dead. in 2002, Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old school girl, was abducted a killed by serial killer, Levi Bellfield. Dowler’s voicemail was hacked by the news publication, after she was reported missing, which gave her parents false hope that she could still be alive. The tampering also meant that Bellfield’s court case was delayed multiple times. This caused an outcry from the British public, whose reaction contributed to the closure of the newspaper and led to a range of investigations and inquiries into the ethics of the British media.
