Channel 4 has called in “security specialists” after presenter Cathy Newman was subjected to abuse online.
Following a “robust” interview with University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, Ms Newman suffered “vicious” comments and threats, according to editor Ben de Pear.
The full, 30-minute video has gained nearly two million views on Youtube since being posted three days ago.
Mr De Pear tweeted: “Our @Channel4News onscreen journalists expect to be held to account for their journalism but the level of vicious misogynistic abuse, nastiness, and threat to @cathynewman is an unacceptable response to a robust and engaging debate with @jordanbpeterson.
“Such is the scale of threat we @Channel4News are having to get security specialists in to carry out an analysis. I will not hesitate to get the police involved if necessary. What a terrible indictment of the times we live in.”
Ms Newman retweeted the messages.
A Twitter search revealed a series of messages directed at the presenter calling her a “b***h”, “c***” and “f***ing idiot”.
Prof Peterson has himself been on the receiving end of abuse, following his decision to criticise the use of gender-neutral pronouns in a video lecture about Canada’s hate-speech laws and “attempts to control the ideological and linguistic territory”.
At a free-speech rally last year protesters drowned him out using a white noise machine, and his officer door was glued shut.
He said he would not use new, neutral pronouns like “ze” but did not object to addressing trans people by their preferred traditional pronoun, the BBC reported.
