Published 24 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b524
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b524

Analysis

Commentary: Toughen up

¹ Guardian, London N1 9GU

Editorial, doi:10.1136/bmj.b500Personal view, doi:10.1136/bmj.b722

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Most readers of the BMJ will, I’m sure, be stunned by the revelations in Karl Sabbagh’s article (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2066). A deluge of nearly 1000 hostile emails will strike most as the stuff of nightmares. The language of some of those missives—abusive and bigoted—will have seemed truly shocking.

But for journalists, especially those in the opinion business, there were few shocks in Sabbagh’s essay. They have come to learn that in today’s wired world, wading into any topic of controversy—not just Israel-Palestine—can bring an instant email bombardment. It simply comes with the territory.

So when I wrote in the Guardian during the US election campaign that the world’s verdict would be harsh if Americans were to reject Barack Obama in favour of John McCain, I received what I estimate were between 3000 and 4000 emails. At one point, they were arriving at the rate of 10 a minute.

Many of . . . [Full text of this article]

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