I have chosen to start with the infamous front-page cover from The Sun newspapers 19th April 1989 edition which released four days after the tragic Hillsborough event, a fatal human crush amongst Liverpool FC fans during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which led to the unfortunate deaths of 97 victims. The articles header has the bold copy that reads, ‘the truth’ with what looks to be facts below, covering almost the entirety of the front page. These ‘facts’ were nothing but tasteless lies claiming the Liverpool fans were responsible for the outcome, also claiming fans were stealing from the dead and attacking the police officers who were trying to save lives when in actuality, the responsibility of the outcome was due to the negligence of the South Yorkshire Police. This article is an awful representation of Liverpool as a whole, making the people of this city come across as heartless, lazy people at a time when Thatcher had left the North of Liverpool including Liverpool to ‘rot’ in order to fund more ‘important projects’ in the likes of the Midlands which resulted in rising unemployment, poverty and police brutality to keep ‘moral standards.’ Although the city had begun to gain a negative representation due to these factors, this was arguably the turning point which caused the city to earn a stereotypical representation of ‘pick pocketers’ and ‘robbers.’ The article reinforces The Suns mistreatment of the city as a result of Liverpool’s rising unemployment as well as the cities support for Left Wing politics, which The Sun were against.
The media text I’m going to compare this to is a promotional advert for Liverpool’s European
Capital of Culture 2008. Although the video looks outdated nowadays with its excessive use of PowerPoint effects and rapid transitions, the video is useful in representing Liverpool as culturally diverse, and expressive in its art. The advert steps away from the negative connotations of the city and presents a more accurate TRUTH about Liverpool and the positive identity that comes with it. The video uses clips of The Beatles in their early years as well as clips of Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney from the videos present time to show how far we have come culturally and how as a city, were still open to talent. The videos use of people from different ethnicities is also embracing more unheard/less practised cultures, as well as accepting other religious beliefs considering the city was known for being more racist especially during Thatcher’s era. There’s a part towards the end which shows what I can only assume to be a young child with cancer. This moment is briefnbut shows how Liverpool will always face issues, but we all come together (as seen in the advert) and quickly deal with them and continue being strong.
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