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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think The Sun 'news'paper is vile and should be closed down?

59 replies

Cheeseoncrumpets · 17/09/2019 18:48

Its always been awful, and as I personally know people who were at Hillsborough I wouldn't wipe my arse with it. However, just when you think they couldnt sink any lower they do just that. The stuff about Ben Stokes has really crossed a line and has caused great distress to him and his family. What on earth posessed them to think that was of any interest to the general public whatsoever?

#DontBuyTheSun', 'The Scum' and 'BoycottTheSun' have all been trending on Twitter all day.There is genuine anger about what they have done this time. Hopefully the rest of the UK are now waking up to something that people on Merseyside have known for the past 30 years.The Sun isn't even fit to wipe your arse with.

OP posts:
dirtyrottenscoundrel · 17/09/2019 19:26

Yanbu. ( I’ve never bought it mind you & seriously judge people who do )

EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard · 17/09/2019 19:27

I don’t agree with the erosion of press and media freedom to report news or to expose matters of public interest. But with freedom comes responsibility. The content regarding Ben Stokes’ family was neither in the public interest, nor was it wholly accurate according to his statement. It was a story about a tragic event, brought up something like 30 years on, purely to trade off Stokes’ success this Summer. I really feel for him and especially for his family.

I never had any truck with that rag before Hillsborough and have despised it ever since. The personnel change but the bar has never raised and the likes of bottom feeders like the Mail are no better with their re-reporting.

I hope the cricket world shun the paper like Liverpool does.

CarenzaLewis2 · 17/09/2019 19:27

YANBU.

I judge anyone who reads it to be a colossal bellend.

JFT96
YNWA

360eyes · 17/09/2019 19:30

YANBU

I think this and all the other shit they publish just makes them look incredibly desperate.

I feel for him and his family and I'm glad he's condemned them.

BarbariansMum · 17/09/2019 19:32

They give the Sun away for free at our paper shop (and even then most people dont want it). Are there still people out there that buy it then?

BasilTheGreat · 17/09/2019 19:48

Really! I had no idea. Confused Love their articles. I know Independent is the same. Tbh is says a lot that so few have so much power in the public room. It’s the same in Sweden where I’m from originally and the Bonnier family controls the media with an iron fist.

RightYesButNo · 17/09/2019 21:28

While YANBU calling for a boycott, I don’t think you should ban press. But also put the onus where it belongs as well: the lowlife who gave the press the info. I read an article where Stokes called it the lowest form of journalism (true), and the Sun’s response was that they had the participation of a family member who provided photos and gave an interview. And sure enough, the actual article is apparently filled with private family photos provided by, and then photos taken by the Sun of, the daughter of the killer.

So as long as celebrities have at least one grabby, greedy family member like her (apparently her name is Jacqui Dunn? If she wants to be famous, then I think she should be, and her name should spread far and wide for disgustingly selling out some poor man’s family tragedy) who is willing to give family photos to the Sun or the Daily Mail or the Independent, then this kind of shite will continue forever.

Ginger1982 · 17/09/2019 22:03

It's disgusting. The so called family member was clearly looking to cash in on Ben Stokes name.

eternalopt · 17/09/2019 22:12

His poor mum.

My concern is that the way it's being reported plays right into the Sun's hands as no one else is saying what the story actually is, raising the hits on the Sun's website. Angry

berlinbabylon · 17/09/2019 22:22

If you want to know what it's about without looking at the Sun, it's on the Times website at the moment. You don't have to read the article, all you need to know is in the headline.

berlinbabylon · 17/09/2019 22:22

If you want to know what it's about without looking at the Sun, it's on the Times website at the moment. You don't have to read the article, all you need to know is in the headline.

mbosnz · 17/09/2019 22:35

I applaud Ben Stokes for his dignified and spirited defence of his whanau's right to privacy. The Sun has lived down to it's reputation. Scum.

BuildBuildings · 17/09/2019 22:50

Yanbu.
It's a rag. I judge people who read it. I've hated it for many years. I'm with the scousers on this one.

PerkingFaintly · 17/09/2019 22:54

I don't want The Sun closed down, and I didn't want News of The World closed down. I don't want the Daily Mail closed down either.

I've always just wanted them to behave better.

Carthage · 18/09/2019 01:10

I'd love the Daily Mail and the Sun to close down. Not by the authorities but because people no longer want to read the trash they write.

However, in the meantime the press needs to be able to genuinely police itself and if it cannot then we need to be able to heavily fine them for flouting their own guidelines.

I really thought the Sun's argument was pathetic. It was not Ben Stoke's direct family member that sold the story. But even it were, it shouldn't give them the right to report on events that affect other people's personal lives. He's not a politician or someone who holds public office. And even if he did, this story does not speak to his personal integrity.

I'd like to see more sports people refusing to answer questions or give interviews to Sun or Daily Mail journalists. Like Juergen Klopp has done. Good for him!

And I don't see how anyone can say the Guardian is more misogynistic than the Sun, which for years showed women with their tops off for no apparent reason, or the Daily Fail that purely depicts women through the lens of what they are wearing, where they are on their diet cycle, who they're going out with etc, etc. God forbid they should, you know, have jobs. Or achieve something in their lives. The bar is so very low and the modelling of what we should aspire to be is so very superficial.

Thymejuice · 18/09/2019 01:31

I haven't read it properly because I felt wrong to intrude. But the gist I got...if I'm right, can I please ask how that constitutes "dirt" on him or is a smear? Horrific and awfully traumatic for his family, yes, but no smear. That implies that they should be ashamed of something dreadful that they experienced. His family should feel no shame.

It's disgusting what the sun did. No morals.

BlackCatSleeping · 18/09/2019 01:49

I remember when The Sun blackmailed Stephen Gately into giving an interview saying he was gay. They said he had to give an interview or they’d out him. They are a shitty newspaper. I wonder how many other celebs they have blackmailed.

Gingerkittykat · 18/09/2019 03:22

I googled the story and was gobsmacked at the lengths they have gone to get pictured of the kid's graves, his poor mum didn't need all that dredged up.

Secondly I am shocked with the misogyny in the article which painted the killer as a loving father who killed when the balance of his mind was disrupted at the thought of losing his children. An act like that is the ultimate way of getting revenge on an ex and not caused by mental illness.

NotBadConsidering · 18/09/2019 03:35

And I don't see how anyone can say the Guardian is more misogynistic than the Sun, which for years showed women with their tops off for no apparent reason

Because the Guardian hides behind a facade of wokeness while it continues to be a major contributor to the destruction of women’s rights.

feelingverylazytoday · 18/09/2019 06:23

It was the Guardian that refused to report on the multiple sexual assaults in Cologne, then tried to place the blame on the victims for owning smartphones. Seems mysoginistic to me. The problem is, the Guardian masquerades as serious journalism, whereas everyone knows the Sun is tabloid scum.

Dongdingdong · 18/09/2019 06:32

Statement from the Sun:

A spokeswoman for the Sun said: “The Sun has the utmost sympathy for Ben Stokes and his mother but it is only right to point out the story was told with the cooperation of a family member who supplied details, provided photographs and posed for pictures. The tragedy is also a matter of public record and was the subject of extensive front-page publicity in New Zealand at the time.

“The Sun has huge admiration for Ben Stokes and we were delighted to celebrate his sporting heroics this summer. He was contacted prior to publication and at no stage did he or his representatives ask us not to publish the story.”

glenthebattleostrich · 18/09/2019 06:33

I could never agree with shutting down any publication no matter how disgraceful they are.

As demonstrated by this thread, different people have different options so who gets to decide who has the 'right' one? And when one is shut down, who is next?

And FWIW, I refuse to buy it have the sun (or mail or guardian) in my house.

NanooCov · 18/09/2019 06:33

The whole thing was abhorrent but the language they used to describe his mum "taking up with" her second husband struck me as particularly vile and designed to assign blame to her as one of the victims rather than the perpetrator, excusing his behaviour. The photo of Dunn's gravestone with his description as a "loving father" was also incredibly distasteful.

PositiveVibez · 18/09/2019 06:47

I judge anyone who reads it to be a colossal bellend

Yep. 100%. They really aren't the kind of person I would socialise with and it's a really good indicator that we wouldn't get on.

boptist · 18/09/2019 06:49

Really! I had no idea. confused Love their articles. I know Independent is the same.

Which paper are you referring to?

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