Hillsborough disaster apologised for its treatment of the Hillsborough disaster "without reservation" in a full page opinion piece on 7 July 2004, saying it had "committed the most terrible mistake in its history" by publishing it. The apology angered some Liverpudlians further. The "Liverpool Echo" called the apology, "shabby" and "an attempt, once again, to exploit the Hillsborough dead". James Murdoch made a full apology for "The Sun" coverage when he appeared at a hearing of the House of Commons Select Committee dealing with the News International phone hacking scandal in 2012. On 12 September 2012, after the publication of the report
Hillsborough disaster wider causes of the incident. Although the then-editor Boris Johnson did not write this piece, journalist Simon Heffer alleged he had written the first draft of the article "at Mr Johnson's request", and offered to apologise for its publication after it attracted "a furore in the city [of Liverpool]". Johnson apologised at the time of the article, travelling to Liverpool to do so, and again following the publication of the report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2012; however, Johnson's apology was rejected by Margaret Aspinall, chairperson of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, whose son James, 18, died in the