City University’s controversial tabloid newspaper ban looks set to be overturned less than three months after it was implemented.

As reported by The Gryphon, the University voted to ban selling The Sun, Daily Mail and Express in campus outlets, accusing them of “stirring up racial hatred” and “attacking the weakest and poorest members of society”. The move aimed to “oppose fascism and social divisiveness in the UK,” but was instead attacked for opposing free speech.

The motion to overturn the ban stated: “A university is a forum for open discussion and is undermined by the censorship of dissenting narratives and opinions. Banning dissenting voices from the discourse is an inherently undemocratic act.”

Students protesting the ban littered the University’s journalism department with copies of the tabloids, petitioned the University, and eventually achieved a 70 to 3 vote victory in the motion to lift the ban.

Despite the uturn, the controversy has been seen as highly damaging to the University’s reputation. One student, Vincent Wood, branded the ban “classist,” while others decried the move as tragically ironic and foolish. The newspapers in question are some of the biggest employers on City’s campus.

The union has asserted its vow to “protect the freedom of the press”, while challenging “prejudice and miseducation within the media”.

It is now up to the Union’s board of trustees to decide whether or not to approve the vote.

Sarah Berry

(Image: Legal Cheek)