ABC News Breakfast, insider Twitter accounts shut down amid trolling as broadcaster centralizes social media

ABC bosses have ditched the Twitter accounts of several of its flagship TV shows after being relentlessly trolled online by political extremists.

The Twitter accounts for ABC News Breakfast and Insiders are among those destined for the hoe this weekend after being relentlessly berated by trolls who accused the hosts of political bias.

The move comes after ABC News Breakfast host Lisa Millar was hounded from the social media platform 18 months ago after experiencing a flurry of personal vitriol online.

But ABC denied the trolls pushed the decision, insisting the move was to centralize all updates through the channel’s main ABC News Twitter account.

“We are closing some of the ABC News programming accounts and consolidating our activity into our main Twitter account @abcnews, which has by far the most activity, followers and audience interactions,” a spokesman said.

“This is a better use of resources while continuing to serve audiences on this platform.”

News Breakfast host Lisa Millar was hounded from the social media platform 18 months ago after experiencing a flurry of personal irritation online

The Twitter account of Sunday morning politics show Insiders, hosted by former Sky News Australia politics editor David Speers, has nearly 147,000 followers.

And the News Breakfast account has an additional 135,000 followers for its updates on the weekday morning show, hosted by Michael Rowlands and Lisa Millar.

The ABC News account, by comparison, has 2.2 million followers. Both shows will retain their own separate Facebook pages with the reshuffle.

The announcement that the ax falls on the Insider account this Sunday was also attacked by the trolls, who called for the show to be scrapped itself.

They dubbed it “LIBsiders” after claims it had moved to the right side of politics since Speers replaced Barrie Cassidy as host.

“Cowardly and utterly disrespectful to your loyal Twitter followers,” ranted one user.

‘Why? Is it so you don’t have to hear the truth?’ asked another.

“You can live in your heavily biased right-wing ideology and pump propaganda for the LNP? Or Rupert. Just cancel the program. I think you’ll find that Twitter has been the largest chunk of your audience.

The Twitter account of Sunday morning politics show Insiders, hosted by former Sky News Australia politics editor David Speers, has nearly 147,000 followers

Former Sydney Mayor Lucy Turnbull, wife of Liberal ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, also joined the debate and demanded, “Why?”

Another asked: “How does a program that purports to cover news and politics from an ‘insider’ perspective decide that the social media platform where politics is discussed the most is not a place where it is.” should be present?

“And at a time when viewership is falling?”

The announcement of the News Breakfast account ending Monday drew a similar angry reaction from followers.

“Too much criticism of your perpetually charged right-wing positions, isn’t it? Silence the criticism,” one wrote.

Another added: “Too bad – News Breakfast on ABC suffers from a person who is clearly a Conservative who just can’t hide her bias.”

Host Lisa Millar has faced a spate of horrifying personal attacks since joining Michael Rowlands as co-host on the flagship show.

Ms Millar left her Twitter account of 55,000 followers in September 2021 amid a relentless stream of abuse over a perceived pro-liberal interview bias.

She initially planned to stay offline for 30 days but later vowed to unplug it until it was “safe for women”.

Millar joined ABC in the 1990s and had worked as a US and Washington correspondent before replacing News Breakfast host Virginia Trioli full-time in August 2019.

The Walkley Award-winning Queenslander is the daughter of former National Party MP Clarrie Millar, who is sparking allegations of coalition bias from social media critics.

Left trolls heaped abuse at every turn, claiming Millar was making it easy for Liberal Prime Ministers and MPs at the expense of Labor politicians.

But others have also brutally attacked their personal appearance.

Back then, co-host Michael Rowlands blasted the trolls for their hateful comments.

“She was the victim of some really heinous and harrowing personal attacks,” Rowlands said.

“We all criticize police officers here. Nobody is perfect.

“But the stuff Lisa was exposed to was next level. Those responsible should be ashamed.”

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk