The appeal against the Press Ombudsman ruling on a blog in the Huffington Post written by a man posing as a woman, has succeeded.
The Ombudsman had ruled that a blog post titled “Could it be time to deny white men the franchise?”, which discussed white men’s role in “controlling” the economy and many sectors of society, constituted hate speech.
Many readers across the country, particularly white men, were enraged by the blog, written by a man who posed as a woman with an Honours Degree from the University of Johannesburg.
The blog even got the attention of alt-right sites in the US.
HuffPost failed to verify the writers credentials and identity and was left with egg on its face when a Twitter users exposed the imposter.
Then-editor, Verashni Pillay, took responsibility for the situation and stepped down after the Ombudsman original ruling. However, an appeal was lodged with the Press Council.
Pillay announced this morning that the ruling has now been set aside (which basically nullifies it).
Breaking: My appeal in the hate speech ruling around the #HuffPost blog matter has succeeded. The appeals committee has set it aside. pic.twitter.com/dC3XTWfKSb
— Verashni Pillay (@verashni) August 22, 2017
Pillay also accused the Ombudsman of ruling poorly in the first place.
The press ombudsman, you mean. Incredibly poor work, and not the first time either. No calls for him to account though. https://t.co/grPqxJimgS
— Verashni Pillay (@verashni) August 22, 2017
