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Sun reporter voices regret over Hillsborough headline – but insists report was ‘balanced’

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By John Glenday, Reporter

September 7, 2012 | 2 min read

Harry Arnold, the Sun journalist responsible for one of the most infamous newspaper stories in British history, has spoken to the BBC about the events which led to its publication.

The controversial piece, written in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, alleged that drunken Liverpool fans had urinated on a police officer and stolen money from the victims of a stampede which left 96 fans dead.

Despite later proven to be untrue Arnold defended the article, claiming the allegations had been presented in a ‘fair and balanced way’ and instead sought to apportion blame to his editor, the pugnacious Kelvin MacKenzie.

Mackenzie edited Arnold’s original words: “this is the truth about the Hillsborough Disaster’ to simply “The Truth” – a move which left Arnold ‘aghast’.

Speaking to Hillsborough: Searching for the Truth Arnold said: “I'd never used the words the truth, "this is the truth about the Hillsborough Disaster" I'd merely written, I hoped and I still believe, in a balanced and fair way.

"So I said to Kelvin MacKenzie, "You can't say that".

"And he said 'Why not?' and I said 'because we don't know that it's the truth. This is a version of 'the truth'.

"And he brushed it aside and said 'Oh don't worry. I'm going to make it clear that this is what some people are saying'”.

MacKenzie declined to take part in the documentary.

The government is set to release documents relating to the disaster on 12 September, the date of publication of a long-awaited report from the Hillsborough Independent Panel.

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