Laura Kuenssberg given bodyguard at Labour conference

Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, has been assigned security detail at the Labour Party conference after sustained online abuse.

The BBC’s first female political editor has endured online abuse consistently since she was thrust into the spotlight. Aggressive, threatening and abusive messages are commonplace for Kuenssberg and all high profile female journalists online.

Kuenssberg is typically accused of impartiality over political stories by both sides of the political spectrum, often if a story about a leader or party is ‘negative’. Online trolls seem to have confused a political journalist doing their job, and holding politicians to account, with ‘taking sides’.

The fact Kuenssberg has had to resort to protection in order to be safe at work has angered many in politics and the media, though the truth is that this is nothing new for female personalities in the public eye, who have always received abuse online.

In the Guardian, Diane Abbott – no stranger to online abuse herself – has condemned abusive party ‘supporters’. She said: ‘It is wrong. Laura is doing a job, I may not always like how she does the job every time, but it is her job and why – just because she is a woman journalist – does she get that level of abuse. It’s wrong.’

John McDonnell has also attacked the trolls, saying it was ‘unacceptable’ and that any abusive activists would be ‘disciplined’. Though as reported in the Telegraph, McDonnell has also been accused of making light of the abuse by saying ‘I’ve said to Laura today, if you identify people, they will be disciplined by this party… John McDonnell will sort them.’

James Kirkup, writing in the Spectator, has suggested the fact a journalist is not safe to do her job without security detail is a blow against democracy in this country. Comparing the situation to a less democratically-free nation, he writes: ‘Britain would – and does – chide ‘developing’ nations in Africa, Asia and South America for failing to safeguard the free media and ensure journalists’ ability to report the words and deeds of people in power’.

The list of those publicly outraged is bountiful, but so too is the group who claim Kuenssberg has made the story up or is doing it just for attention. The bodyguard can’t stop the online abuse and so once again attention turns to the social media networks that host it but are struggling to make any sort of impact against abuse while maintaining ‘free speech’.

Women in Journalism’ s recent report highlighted the fact that one of the major reasons female journalists were missing from front page bylines was because there were so few in senior political editor positions.

But this goes further, Laura Kuenssberg’s bodyguard is not just an indication that women are struggling in journalism but an indication that women are struggling in society.