BBC sets new security measures after anti-vaxxer ‘death threats’ to staff

After Newsnight’s political editor, Nicholas Watt, was harassed by demonstrators outside Downing Street last Monday and subsequent online trolling of BBC journalists, the BBC has upgraded its security protocols.

According to a message from Fran Unsworth, director of news and current affairs, sent to staff last Friday, BBC had set up a working group to examine staff safety online, acknowledging that “abuse of journalists is a growing problem”. Unsworth urged staff to complete training on how to react to “an in-person attack”.

Unsworth wrote: “We know these attacks are more often aimed at women and journalists of colour, so we want to make sure we have particular support for those groups and are looking at what this could be.”