News Limited decides against Andrew Bolt appeal
News Limited has decided that it won’t appeal against Andrew Bolt’s breach of the Racial Discrimination Act.
In an announcement from the Herald & Weekly Times, the company said nonetheless it had advice that there were “a number of grounds” for appeal.
The company said: “We will continue to engage in community debate and discussion to ensure free speech is protected.”
The case related to articles Bolt wrote in 2009 about light skinned aboriginal people.
As part of the ruling, HWT has been ordered to publish corrective statements to Bolt’s original comments. The HWT statement said it would now consider whether to appeal that order.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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This whole case was never about free speech. Bolt has one of the biggest and most well-read blogs in Australia. To say he is gagged is ludicrous.
It was about Mr Bolt being a shoddy journalist and getting his facts spectacularly wrong, and being caught. I am surprised it was not a defamation case, but I’m no lawyer. However his rusted-on readers, like Alan Jones’ listeners, will happily swallow the spin from News Limited.
Bolt seems like an intelligent man…so I guess he has to rescue his journalistic credibility somehow. However methinks one doth protest too loudly.
Last year I saw a T Shirt in the window of a custom T Shirt shop in Port Melbourne: “What if Google is wrong”.
Anyone want to do a whip-around and buy it for Bolt?
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Absolutly agree with geeps. The advertising industry has a code of conduct for a reason. Imagine if the industry was run by bolt?
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So what’s next, will that whinger, Bolt now claim that his employer, News Limited is gagging his free speech?
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“We will continue to engage in community debate and discussion to ensure free speech is protected.”
Interpretation: We have spoken to George Brandis and he will change the law for us.
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I believe that Bolt previously said that he would leave the next step up to News Limited.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella