The broadcaster grilled Professor Jordan Peterson on Tuesday, and was subjected to a barrage of abuse on social media
CHANNEL 4 has hired security experts to protect news presenter Cathy Newman who received threats after a fiery interview with a radical academic.
The broadcaster grilled Professor Jordan Peterson on Tuesday, including on the top of the pay gap, and was subjected to a barrage of abuse on social media.
The controversial Canadian psychologist has a strong following who are known for attacking opponents to his views on gender.
Yesterday a Channel 4 spokeswoman said: “Our presenter Cathy Newman has been the target of unwarranted and unacceptable misogynistic abuse and threats.
“As journalists in the public eye, our presenters expect criticism, but we will not tolerate this level of abuse towards our staff.
“We have taken immediate steps to ensure Cathy’s safety and security and continue to offer her our full support on this matter.”
Peterson: Multivaried analysis of the pay gap indicate that it doesn't exist
Newman: But that's just not true, is it. That nine per cent pay gap, that's a gap between median hourly earnings between men and women. That exists.
P: Yeah but there's multiple reasons for that. One of them is gender but it's not the only reason. If you're a social scientist worth your salt you never do a univaried analysis. You say, well, women in aggregate are paid less than men, then we break it down by age, occupation, interest, personality.
N: But you're saying basically it doesn't matter if women aren't getting to the top, because that's skewing that gender pay gap, isn't it. You're saying that's just a fact of life.
P: No, I'm not saying it doesn't matter. I'm saying there are multiple reasons for it that aren't being taken into account.
N: But why should women put up with those reasons? Why should women be content not to get to the top?
P: I'm not saying that they should put up with it, I'm saying that the claim that the wage gap between men and women is only due to sex is wrong, and it is wrong, there's no doubt about that. The multivaried analyses have been done.
N: You keep talking about multivaried analysis. I'm saying that nine per cent pay gap exists, that's a gap between men and women. I'm not saying why it exists, but it exists. Now if you're a woman, that seems pretty unfair.
P: You have to say why it exists.
N: But do you agree that it's unfair?
P: Not necessarily.
N: If you're a woman, and on average you're getting paid nine per cent less than a man, that's not fair, is it?
P: It depends on why it's happening. I can give you an example. There's a personality trait known as agreeableness, agreeable people are compassionate and polite, and agreeable people get paid less than less agreeable people for the same job. Women are more agreeable than men.
N: Again, a vast generalisation. Some women are not more agreeable than men.
P: That's right, and some women get paid more than men.
N: So you're saying that by and large, women are too agreeable to get the pay rises they deserve?
P: No, I'm saying that that's one component of a multivaried equation that predicts salary. It accounts for maybe five per cent of the variance, something like that. So you need about another 18 factors, one of which is gender. And there is prejudice, no doubt about that, but it accounts for a much smaller proportion of the variance in the pay gap than the radical feminists claim.
The interview had seen the pair debate the gender pay gap, with Canadian psychologist Jordan B Peterson saying there were "multiple reasons" for the gap.
But Cathy Newman fired back, saying that as a woman, the pay gap was unfair.
Although thousands on social media hurled abuse at Newman, it’s not clear what form the threats took or what measures have been put in place.
But the show’s editor, Ben de Pear, yesterday Tweeted: “Such is the scale of threat we @Channel4News are having to get security specialist 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.”
He added: “Onscreen journalists expect to be held to account for their journalism but the level of vicious misogynistic abuse to @cathynewman is an unacceptable response.”
But there was no ill feeling from Professor Peterson himself. After their lengthy debate he Tweeted to his interviewer: “Thanks @cathynewman for the invite and for releasing this basically unedited.”
She replied: “Enjoyed doing battle with you Jordan - thanks for being a good sport.”
