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Oops. ABC iview eavesdrops on Insiders

An error lead to iview viewers overhearing David Speers refering to social media as a "horrible, horrible place."

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Awkward audio of Insiders host David Speers deriding social media as a “horrible, horrible place” was heard on iview yesterday in what was clearly a technical mistake at ABC.

Before the episode began, Speers and panelists Katharine Murphy, James Campbell, and Samantha Maiden joined with LNP guest Jane Hume for a photo.

Speers could be heard scoffing at social media users.

“Let’s get a photo… just for those lovely folk on social media,” he quipped.

“It’s a horrible, horrible place and after years of copping it, you just have to tell yourself there are hundreds of thousands watching and a few hundred who tweet….”

As his colleagues joked about far less tweeting, Speers said, “there are far more who are just loving our work.”

While the exchange wasn’t necessarily damaging, it should never have been heard via iview.

Some on social media (where the numbers exceed 2400 likes) speculated that an ABC leak had released the footage.

But it was less Machiavellian than that and simply a technical error.

Insiders own Twitter account has over 146,000 followers.

3 Responses

  1. There is a fair bit of angst among some members of the public who naturally have a lot to say, so those journalists or opinion writers who make a living providing political commentary know what to expect. I would imagine that any media personality would feel a bit concerned if their contributions or performance did not connect with their audience in some way, the old adage ‘any publicity is good publicity’ comes to mind. Personally, I don’t react to any overtly negative rebuttals to my comments in forums, my only exception is if the criticism is providing a good segue to continue with the subject discussed but is not deliberately being confrontational or patronising.

  2. He’s speaking for millions of us. Anti-social media. I made my annual post on a local ‘Noticeboard’ last week looking for a dog walker. Immediate response from some woman was “Why have a dog if you can’t find 20 mins. to walk them?”. Well, because am aged 78 and recovering from Melanoma surgery and treatment. Her response two days later “OMG I didn’t think”. And that is the issue. Keyboard warriors who don’t think, or don’t have a brain to think with. People who post stuff aimed at him would never have the guts to say the same to his face.

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