A BBC journalist has dismissed trolls sending her racist abuse on Twitter as "idiots" who she refuses to waste her time on.
Naga Munchetty has become a stalwart of BBC Breakfast and is often one of the first people some of the 1.5 million viewers are greeted with in the morning as they sip their coffee and eat their cornflakes.
The former financial journalist from London says she often receives feedback from viewers on her interviews each day, responses which are often helpful. However, she is also exposed to a darker side of social media in the racist and sexist abuse some trolls have levelled at her.
Munchetty told The Mirror: “If someone says, ‘She did a bad job of that interview, I’ve come away and not understood anything’, I would go back and re-examine that interview.
“Racist and sexist stuff, I just think, ‘You’re an idiot’.
“I’m not going to go home going, ‘I’m so upset someone’s called me a racist word’, or said I’m a woman, I can’t do a job. They’re idiots. You can’t waste your energy on idiots.”
Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey is already under pressure to do more to curb online racism after the disturbing abuse directed at Ghostbuster’s star Leslie Jones prompted calls for tougher action against trolls.
Twitter has said its rules prohibit engaging or inciting the harassment or abuse of other users.
“We know many people believe we have not done enough to curb this type of behaviour on Twitter,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We agree. We are continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to better allow us to identify and take faster action on abuse as it’s happening and prevent repeat offenders.”
