The press ombudsman has thrown out Aids denialist Anthony Brink’s complaint against the Mail & Guardian alleging that the newspaper had implied he was mentally ill. Brink is the policy adviser at the Dr Rath Foundation and a former member of President Thabo Mbeki’s advisory panel on HIV/Aids. The foundation is known for its fervent campaign against anti-retrovirals.
Brink complained that the headline ”Brink’s looney tilts at journos”, on an article in the M&G on October 7, implied that he was mentally unstable. The article revealed how, in a yet-to-be published book, Brink took a swipe at white female Aids reporters, describing them as ”trendie-leftie stupid white women” and ”[pharmaceutical] industry sweethearts”. M&G editor Ferial Haffajee is mentioned as the ”spicy pepper” to the ”salt” of the white journalists.
Ombudsman Ed Linington dismissed the complaint, saying that the headline referred only to Brink’s attack on the journalists and not to his overall mental health.
He added: ”A public figure who involves himself in controversial matters must expect to receive criticism as sharp as that which he delivers. In this case, Brink has attacked the M&G, its editor and past and present female staff in terms which justify the riposte.”
Linington also dismissed Brink’s complaint that the article referred to his alleged intimidation of Health-e news journalist Kerry Cullinan.
Brink argued that ”the closest to this [intimidation] was my legitimate threat, before which Health Systems Trust rightly quailed, to seek full legal recompense from anyone who defames me, which is to say, unlawfully invades my rights.”
The ombudsman found this ”neatly fits a dictionary definition of intimidation”.