The article titled “Holding hypocrisy” was retracted by News24, and its editor-in-chief says he will get to the bottom of the issue, but readers are furious and demand answers.
News24 found itself in the middle of a storm late Saturday night after it published an article about former West Indian cricketer and commentator Michael Holding. The article titled “Holding Hypocrisy” called the former cricketing great a “cheat” and described his wife as a “balding lumpy porker brown Arawak native from Antigua”.
The ad hominem attack on Holding drew immediate condemnation from readers on Facebook and Twitter and it was subsequently deleted by News24. But those outraged said they want action taken on the guilty party who published the piece.
Veteran South African journalist Niren Tolsi said he wanted to know who “was responsible for publishing a vile, hateful, sexist, racist “letter” to News24 about West Indian commentator Michael Holding.”
Holding is currently in South Africa, as part of the Supersport cricket commentary team.
@NomalangaSA @percyzvomuya @CSA_MediaMan @vijayprashad have you guts read this racist, sexist drivel printed in @News24? https://t.co/D7O94TtD4u @AdriaanBasson how the fuck did this make it online?
— Niren Tolsi (@NirenTolsi) January 20, 2018
Niren we need to know what they think and we need to let the racism show itself so they can live with our come backs and know theres no comfort for this shit. Taking it down is a form of protection
— Khize wa maZambezi (@NomalangaSA) January 20, 2018
Responding to the criticism and complaints on Twitter, Adriaan Basson, News24’s editor-in-chief said: “I can promise you action will be taken – this article does not represent what my colleagues at @News24 and I stand for.”
The article was published in the MyNews24 section – where “stories come from users”. In this case, an author named Jason Stoneman had allegedly penned the piece.
In a similar incident in April 2017, Huffington Post South Africa published a piece by a community member who argued that white people should be excluded from voting. The article was retracted but it cost Verashni Pillay, editor-in-chief of Huffington Post at the time, her job.
Editor’s note: Sipho Hlongwane, the managing editor of The Daily Vox, is formerly the blogs editor of Huffington Post SA, a sister title to News24.
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