FORMER BBC editor Laura Kuenssberg has posed for the September issue of British Vogue as she shared her experience of online abuse.
The 46-year-old journalist, who was recently announced as Andrew Marr’s successor on the BBC’s Sunday morning politics show, acknowledged that the broadcaster doesn't "always get everything right" as she discussed her time in the role.
Kuenssberg - who was criticised by Labour and SNP supporters throughout her time as political editor - is due to take over the Sunday politics show on September 4 with a new set, format and title music.
During the 2019 General Election the journalist faced calls to resign after wrongly stating that a Labour activist punched a Tory staffer.
In another instance she faced criticism for appearing to defend Dominic Cummings after his mid-lockdown trip to Durham, even replying to a tweet from Pippa Crerar - who broke the story - to correct her facts.
“The BBC is a huge organisation and we don’t always get everything right, so if there is genuine criticism then of course you’ve got to look at that,” she told Vogue.
“But that’s different to someone who’s just getting off on being mean about a woman on the telly. It’s a horrible little side-effect, but it’s not the work.
“Some of the feedback you get from the public is so meaningful. If someone wants to slag off my top … Really?”
Kuenssberg said she hopes the abuse she receives does not deter young women from pursuing a career in journalism or politics.
“We have to be alive to how horrible it can be, particularly for people starting out, and support them where we can,” she said.
“It drives me crazy that young people coming into the industry – and particularly young women – might look at what’s happened online and think ‘That is not a place for me’.”
The Glasgow-raised journalist was among the attendees at the Spectator summer party event in July. During the Vogue interview, she detailed what it was like at the gathering after the resignation of the Prime Minister.
She described the atmosphere at the magazine’s summer party as “very hot, very wild and very bizarre”.
Guests at the event at the right-wing magazine’s offices in Westminster included prominent figures from the Conservative Party, including Rishi Sunak, Nadhim Zahawi and Sir Graham Brady.
“It was like being in a tropical jungle, not just because of the heat, but because they’d slain the beast who’d been pushing them all around for so long," Kuenssberg said.
“And the next generation was prowling around, trying to build new alliances and grab the plumpest, juiciest fruit for themselves.”
Kuenssberg compared the manner in which the Prime Minister lost the support of his party to a game of Jenga.
She said: “One piece comes out, and then another, and it gets wobblier, then it stabilises, but then, when it actually crashes, it crashes really quickly and really messily.”
She added: “I think it’s clear that, until very late that last night, there was a real sense of denial.”
