THE NEWSWEEK BRAND REALLY CONTINUES TO SHINE: Newsweek Pakistan Editor Fasih Ahmed: Child Abuse and Slavery Produce ‘Great Art.’
The tone of Ahmed’s tweets [collated here — Ed] was so extreme that many observers suspected his account had been hacked, but hours after the online tirade began neither Newsweek nor Newsweek Pakistan had put out a statement to that effect.
Breitbart London contacted several senior Newsweek Media Group executives, who could only say that they were “investigating” — and, some time later, the company put out a statement distancing itself from Ahmed, and saying that Newsweek would be “reviewing” its licensing agreement with Newsweek Pakistan.
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The Lahore Literary Festival with which Ahmed is associated also distanced itself from him, announcing that “he has recused himself from the LLF and the Board has unanimously accepted his resignation” on January 24th.
Shortly afterwards the journalist attempted to climb down from his position with a public apology, writing of his now-deleted messages: “My tweets of yesterday were coming from anger, were poorly phrased, and misread. I’m sorry to have upset the people who have survived child abuse. I have been angry at the conspiracy of silence around this evil. #MeToo #StopChildAbuse”
Astonishing.
Given the hole Ahmed has already dug for himself, Twitchy is pondering, “Did Newsweek Pakistan editor’s backpedaling just make things worse for him?”
Earlier: Newsweek probe looking at alleged money laundering.