Following reports that Laura Kuenssberg has been provided with protection in the form of bodyguards at the party’s Brighton Conference this week, the Society has called on Labour to roundly condemn those who have issued threats.
“It is appalling that any journalist should face threats for going about their legal business anywhere in the world, but for it to happen here in the UK to such a high-profile figure is very concerning,” commented Society of Editors Deputy Executive Director Ian Murray.
“Ironically, the Society will be discussing threats made to journalists world-wide at its annual conference this year, but we did not expect to have to include actions so close to home during the debate.”
Various news outlets reported yesterday that Ms Kuenssberg has been assigned bodyguards after becoming the target of abuse and aggression on-line and while covering Labour Party events.
In May last year, an online petition called for the BBC to sack Ms Kuenssberg amid claims her reporting was anti-Labour.
And earlier this month the chairman of the BBC, Sir David Clementi, called on politicians to protect journalists from being jeered at during press conferences.
Ian Murray added: “We saw in the United States during the Presidential Election last year how political agitators were urged from the platform to attack journalists both verbally and physically. It is important that politicians here in the UK move quickly to inform their supporters that journalists, indeed anyone, should never be the subject of abuse.
“The Society is calling on the Labour leadership to speak from the platform during their conference to condemn threats of violence and verbal abuse from whatever quarter.
“While it is always acceptable to enter into debate over whether a media organisation, including the BBC, is upholding impartial standards, resorting to threats of violence is never acceptable.”
Links: SoE Conference
