By Lynnette Johns
There is outrage at the firing of Rapport columnist Deon Maas whose column on satanism and religious tolerance prompted furious readers to organise a boycott of the newspaper.
The Freedom of Expression Institute has slammed Rapport for its stance, saying the decision to fire Maas just two weeks after it had hired him to great fanfare, was "typical" of the media placing commercial interests above journalists' freedom of opinion and conscience.
And the Press Council of South Africa said: "That an editor can sanction a journalist in favour of 'commercial interest' is shocking."
Typical of placing commercial interests above a journalists' Maas, a controversial columnist whose work has appeared in Die Burger and Beeld, was fired by Rapport's editor Tim du Plessis on Thursday, after his first column was published under the headline "666 is net 'n syfer" (666 is just a number).
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More than a week after it was published, an SMS campaign, apparently orchestrated by Christian groups, did the rounds saying: "Boycott Rapport because Deon Maas is writing a pro-satanism story."
But Maas said the piece was rather about tolerance and accepting other people's views.
Simon Delaney of the Freedom of Expression Institute said: "Whether it was satire or not, we can say what we like as long as it is not hate speech. We should be able to publish and be damned unless we break the law. Deon Maas's article is not illegal. The newspaper is not even interested in supporting his right of freedom of expression.
"Rapport has answered the question as to whether freedom of expression or commercial interest is paramount."
'He has stirred debate, and as such, has done his job' Delaney said the paper was betraying its ethics and raison d'etre by bowing to a percentage of readers who had threatened to boycott the newspaper.
"There was no evidence that the majority of readers would stop buying Rapport if Maas continued to write.
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