Liverpool FC bans Sun journalists over Hillsborough coverage

Liverpool Football Club has banned The Sun from its stadium and training ground over the newspaper's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster.

The tabloid's journalists will be unable to report on matches from inside Anfield stadium and will also be denied access to interviews with the Premier League club's players and manager, Jurgen Klopp.

The decision was made by the club's Boston-based owners on Thursday (9 February) following discussions with the families of the 96 people killed in the tragedy, the Guardian reported.

The Sun said the move was "bad for fans and bad for football".

The tabloid was heavily criticised for its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster in April 1989 after it printed accusations from anonymous South Yorkshire policemen that Liverpool supporters had "picked pockets of victims" and "urinated on brave cops".

Its infamous story of what happened during that FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest – under the headline 'The Truth' – also claimed fans beat up officers who were trying to save those injured.

The reports, which were found to be untrue, were said to have caused significant distress to families in the early stages of the tragedy.

The Sun and its editor at the time, Kelvin MacKenzie, have since apologised for the article.

But a campaign to boycott the paper in Merseyside has gathered momentum since an inquest jury last year found all 96 victims were unlawfully killed following gross negligence on behalf of the South Yorkshire police officer in command of the match, Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield.

The ruling, which followed 27 years of campaigning from the victims' families, was left off the front pages of both The Sun and sister title The Times the following day, prompting further criticism of the papers' management.

Since then, The Total Eclipse of The S*n campaign to extend a boycott of the newspaper has received the backing of The Hillsborough Family Support Group (HSFG) and Liverpool City Council, with some retailers having also stopped selling the tabloid.

The campaign group tweeted on Friday: "Further to conversations with LFC Directors we are happy to inform you that s*n journalists are no longer enjoy access to all Club premises."

Trevor Hicks, president of the HFSG, whose teenage daughters Sarah and Vicki were among those killed at Hillsborough, told the Guardian: "The Sun's coverage did enormous damage to me, [his then wife] Jenni and all the families and caused us great distress. We tried to contact the Sun many years ago; we asked them to name their sources for the scurrilous stories, but we never got that and we have never moved on since.

"We did not accept that the apologies they have made were genuine, and we support Liverpool football club banning the paper. All the 96 people who died supported Liverpool, Anfield is our spiritual home, and there was an element of the place being besmirched by the presence of the Sun."

In a statement, a Sun spokesperson said: "The Sun and Liverpool FC have had a solid working relationship for the 28 years since the Hillsborough tragedy. Banning journalists from a club is bad for fans and bad for football. The Sun can reassure readers this won't affect our full football coverage.

"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. A new generation of journalists on the paper congratulate the families on the hard fought victory they have achieved through the inquest.

"It is to their credit that the truth has emerged and, whilst we can't undo the damage done, we would like to further a dialogue with the city and to show that the paper has respect for the people of Liverpool."