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Piers Morgan today tweeted that he was cancelling himself from the Press Awards, which is run by industry body the Society of Editors
Piers Morgan today cancelled himself from the Society of Editors Columnist of Year shortlist before some deranged wokie tries to do it - after the organisation s director was forced out for defending the press against Meghan Markle s racism claims.
He tweeted today: I ve been nominated in @EditorsUK awards as Columnist of the Year. Obviously, some deranged wokie is now going to make a fuss about this & demand I be cancelled from the shortlist, to make a name for themselves. So before they do, I am cancelling myself. Remove my nomination.
Society of Editors board members hold urgent meeting after executive director Ian Murray quit last night
It follows SoE s reaction to comments made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex about racism in the media
Statement provoked furious response from board members including Oly Duff, Vic Motune and Eleanor Mills
It s also been criticised by Daily Mirror, Guardian, Financial Times, Evening Standard and HuffPost UK editors
Last modified on Fri 12 Mar 2021 00.34 EST
The National Press Awards will be postponed, the Guardian understands, after the board of the Society of Editors concluded that a series of withdrawals over its statement that there was no racism in the British media threatened its integrity.
The decision emerged in an emergency meeting on Thursday prompted by the resignation of Ian Murray, executive director of the industry body, over his statement in response to the Duchess of Sussex’s claims in her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
After Murray’s withdrawal critics of the body had demanded a clearer repudiation of his initial statement than the clarification issued earlier this week. It is understood that after the meeting a new statement is being drafted.
The latest statement – issued by the board rather than Murray – added that the intervention “did not reflect what we all know: that there is a lot of work to be done in the media to improve diversity and inclusion. We will reflect on the reaction our statement prompted and work towards being part of the solution.”
But if the board hoped its comments would resolve the issue, White’s statement brought it back to prominence. Telling Murray of her decision to pull out, she said: “Your organisation approached me to become a judge for its awards and to work alongside you because at that time it was hugely lacking in terms [of] being a fair reflection of the UK population. In other words, the nominations and winners list involved very few non-white journalists.