On the day of the death of Anne Williams having seen Margaret Thatcher carried out, Roy Greenslade reports Justice for the 96, indeed:
Has Kelvin MacKenzie
become unemployable? Two weeks ago the former Sun editor lost
his online column on the Daily Telegraph after just one effort (see
here).
In July last year, he parted company with the Daily Mail after spending barely a year there as a columnist. Prior to that, from 2005 onwards, he wrote a column for the Sun. It is also apparent that he is no longer the maverick right-wing voice of choice for BBC1's Question Time or Radio 4's Any Questions.
Why should this be? In a word, Hillsborough. Twenty-four years on from the tragedy he cannot escape the fury of the people of Liverpool for his front page that defamed the city's football fans.
One disastrous decision, to refer to the disgusting and false allegations about Liverpool FC's fans as "The Truth", has haunted him ever since. Many scores of the comments below his Telegraph column referred to Hillsborough while others condemned the paper for "dumbing down" by publishing his views.
But I can reveal the real reason it was decided to drop MacKenzie. I understand that the editor, Tony Gallagher, was made aware by the sports desk of deep upset about the hiring of MacKenzie by its writers, especially its star columnist Alan Hansen.
Hansen, who played for Liverpool on the day of the Hillsborough tragedy that caused 96 deaths, has always been a strong supporter of the bereaved families. Last year, when the Hillsborough Independent Panel report was published, Hansen wrote in the Telegraph of his "respect for the families and the campaigners who have fought so hard for the truth to come out."
In that article he also wrote: "I have encountered ignorance about Hillsborough on many occasions, finding myself having to correct the inaccurate version of events." No version of events was more inaccurate than that published by MacKenzie's Sun, so it was unconscionable for Hansen to have him as a Telegraph colleague.
Nor, I understand, was Hansen the only member of the sports team to object to MacKenzie being hired. Another of the paper's leading football writers protested strongly too. Gallagher would also have to take account of the negative publicity should Hansen have resigned. Imagine the headlines about the departure of a respected Match of the Day TV pundit.
As for MacKenzie's sudden departure from the Mail, the reasons were shrouded in secrecy at the time. The Mail gave no explanation and MacKenzie said he was asked by the investors backing his online TV channel, Sports Tonight, wanted him to "focus on it full time". I didn't believe that at the time, as I made clear in a blog post headlined Kelvin MacKenzie's abrupt Mail departure is baffling.
I pointed out that his final Mail column attracted several don't-go-Kelvin pleas among the 400 or so comments (now reduced to 42, I note). So I wondered whether there had been a falling-out with the editor, Paul Dacre. Though denied by MacKenzie, I now understand that I was closer to "the truth" than his infamous Hillsborough headline.
MacKenzie was extremely upset about the editing of his column, which included the refusal to publish certain items. He regarded this as censorship. It led to a series of rows and eventually, after one extremely contentious decision not to run a certain item (the contents of which I cannot disclose), MacKenzie went. There was relief also among the Mail's sports staff because of the Hillsborough connection.
So, for the moment at least (and just possibly forever), MacKenzie's long, colourful and controversial newspaper career is over. He has been censored. And now he truly can focus full time on his own sports venture.
In July last year, he parted company with the Daily Mail after spending barely a year there as a columnist. Prior to that, from 2005 onwards, he wrote a column for the Sun. It is also apparent that he is no longer the maverick right-wing voice of choice for BBC1's Question Time or Radio 4's Any Questions.
Why should this be? In a word, Hillsborough. Twenty-four years on from the tragedy he cannot escape the fury of the people of Liverpool for his front page that defamed the city's football fans.
One disastrous decision, to refer to the disgusting and false allegations about Liverpool FC's fans as "The Truth", has haunted him ever since. Many scores of the comments below his Telegraph column referred to Hillsborough while others condemned the paper for "dumbing down" by publishing his views.
But I can reveal the real reason it was decided to drop MacKenzie. I understand that the editor, Tony Gallagher, was made aware by the sports desk of deep upset about the hiring of MacKenzie by its writers, especially its star columnist Alan Hansen.
Hansen, who played for Liverpool on the day of the Hillsborough tragedy that caused 96 deaths, has always been a strong supporter of the bereaved families. Last year, when the Hillsborough Independent Panel report was published, Hansen wrote in the Telegraph of his "respect for the families and the campaigners who have fought so hard for the truth to come out."
In that article he also wrote: "I have encountered ignorance about Hillsborough on many occasions, finding myself having to correct the inaccurate version of events." No version of events was more inaccurate than that published by MacKenzie's Sun, so it was unconscionable for Hansen to have him as a Telegraph colleague.
Nor, I understand, was Hansen the only member of the sports team to object to MacKenzie being hired. Another of the paper's leading football writers protested strongly too. Gallagher would also have to take account of the negative publicity should Hansen have resigned. Imagine the headlines about the departure of a respected Match of the Day TV pundit.
As for MacKenzie's sudden departure from the Mail, the reasons were shrouded in secrecy at the time. The Mail gave no explanation and MacKenzie said he was asked by the investors backing his online TV channel, Sports Tonight, wanted him to "focus on it full time". I didn't believe that at the time, as I made clear in a blog post headlined Kelvin MacKenzie's abrupt Mail departure is baffling.
I pointed out that his final Mail column attracted several don't-go-Kelvin pleas among the 400 or so comments (now reduced to 42, I note). So I wondered whether there had been a falling-out with the editor, Paul Dacre. Though denied by MacKenzie, I now understand that I was closer to "the truth" than his infamous Hillsborough headline.
MacKenzie was extremely upset about the editing of his column, which included the refusal to publish certain items. He regarded this as censorship. It led to a series of rows and eventually, after one extremely contentious decision not to run a certain item (the contents of which I cannot disclose), MacKenzie went. There was relief also among the Mail's sports staff because of the Hillsborough connection.
So, for the moment at least (and just possibly forever), MacKenzie's long, colourful and controversial newspaper career is over. He has been censored. And now he truly can focus full time on his own sports venture.
No comments:
Post a Comment