HuffPost SA off the hook in fake blogger hate-speech case
The Press Ombudsman has overturned its original ruling saying ‘discriminatory speech is not necessarily hate speech’
The hate speech ruling on an article by the Huffington Post SA earlier this year, which resulted in former editor Verashni Pillay resigning‚ has been overturned. In April this year‚ the Press Ombudsman’s Johan Retief found the HuffPost SA guilty of serious misconduct of the publication of hate speech. Following the ruling‚ Pillay — who was then editor-in-chief — resigned and apologised for the blog titled "Could it be time to deny white men the franchise?" after it was revealed that the blogger, "Shelly Garland", was fake in May this year. Pillay then appealed the ruling and, on Monday, the appeals panel of the Press Council released its ruling that the blog did not amount to hate speech. The ombud originally found HuffPost SA in breach of section 5.2 of the code and said because the blog was "inflammatory‚ discriminatory and targeting a specific group of people" the text can be described as hate speech. "In passing‚ we note that the ombud erred in dealing with articles 5.1 and 5.2 ...
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