“..the lies that it heaped upon the heads of the bereaved.”

The news agenda has been rightly dominated today by the damning revelations in the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report in relation to the conduct of the emergency services surrounding the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, which took the lives of 96 football supporters.

It’s hard to believe that 23 years have passed since those horrible scenes were transmitted live to stunned viewers on a late Saturday afternoon. Like September 11th, 2001, it was one of those days in which many people will forever recall exactly where they were and what they were doing when the story broke.

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he was “profoundly sorry” for the “double injustice” visited upon the victims and their families, whilst then editor of The Sun, Kelvin McKenzie, has offered his “profuse apologies” to the families, a sentiment echoed by the current Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, David Crompton.

DUP North Belfast MP, Ian Paisley Jnr, had this to say in the Commons about the conduct of the media in relation to this incident:

However, the sad fact remains that there is no effective sanction against an unwise and careless media….that issue still has to be addressed, and The Sun still has to be faced with the lies that it heaped upon the heads of the bereaved.

I’m sure the Reavey family would approve of those comments, though obviously for reasons which would prove less comfortable- but no less relevant- for the North Antrim MP.

Chris Donnelly