Leigh Sales reveals reason behind stepping out of the spotlight

In a rare interview with Stellar magazine, Leigh Sales has opened up about leaving Twitter, revealing a major concern that social media backlash would “translate into real-life violence”.

The veteran journalist admitted the online trolling “took a really hard toll on people close to me”.

“People have reported that I left because there was an interview with Scott Morrison and then I was abused,” she said.

“But I was abused all the time, so actually that had nothing to do with it.

“I just decided to jump off before the election because I thought the level of the trolling would ramp right up.”

Sales said that while you can choose to ignore the hate, the “constant narrative” that she was supporting particular political parties led to the current affairs host having to take social media threats seriously.

“I have two protective violence orders on me from random people who’ve made threats against me. There have been others where police have looked at them and recommended certain courses of action,” she said.

“I don’t know for sure that that’s related to that online mentality, but I think it certainly wouldn’t help, particularly the level of misinformation that’s out there; this constant narrative that I’m attempting to back in one side of politics or the other, which is completely false.”

 

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During the political campaign, Sales was accused of going easy on former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, with the ex-PM “bulldozing” the interview.

When asked by Sales what he would do differently, Morrison talked over the top and interrupted the retiring journalist.