Further to that a full apology will be made in both the Australian and UK editions next month, with a donation to be made to both the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and Hillsborough Family Support Group.
The statement reads:
'We deeply regret the photograph captions published in the November issue of the Australian edition of FHM, accompanying an article about the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. FHM Australia has its own editorial team and these captions were written and published without consultation with the UK edition, or any other edition of FHM.
FHM Australia has clearly acted without sensitivity and in a totally
inappropriate manner. We unreservedly apologise for the anguish and pain that such treatment of the Hillsborough disaster has caused to the relatives and friends of the victims, of all those present, and of all those touched by such a disaster.
The right course of action is to withdraw this edition from sale - which we will be doing. We have been in contact with the Hillsborough Family Support Group and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign to express our deep regret and sincere apologies. We have informed them that a full apology will be published in the Australian edition, due for circulation at the beginning of December, and although the offending article was not published in the UK, the apology will also appear in the UK edition, with similartiming.
FHM will be making a donation to both of the fighting funds after further consultation with the groups involved'.
Geoff Campbell
Executive Publishing Director
FHM Australia
Visit the HJC website to learn more about the Hillsborough disaster and the continuing fight for justice at: http://www.contrast.org/hillsborough/