Broadcaster Claire Byrne is not shy in her thoughts and opinions, which extends to her approach to dealing with internet trolls.
As a woman in the spotlight, Newstalk host Claire Byrne is aware that with a certain repute comes unsolicited opinions, often in the form of internet trolling. Chatting with Claire for our cover interview of the July|August issue of Irish Country Magazine, Journalist Aoife Barry asks how she deals with outside judgement.
Her response was unexepected and simple. She often messages the trolls directly.
“Some of them might say ‘I’m sorry for saying it in that way. Here’s what I meant’,” she reveals.
“Or they might try and make a point about a programme that you presented. Most of them run. You’ll never hear from them again. Some will apologise,” she adds.
Claire goes on to say that sometimes she pulls herself back from messaging them all the time, sharing an anecdote: “Newstalk put a clip online of me, and I happened to look at a comment, which I don’t always do,” she begins.
“And I was kicking myself for doing it. But this fella said ‘God, she used to be good looking, but she’s really old now’. I checked his profile, and I thought, the absolute cheek of you to say that. I followed his profile… I had to stop myself from messaging him. That’s what I wanted to do, is to message him and say: I’m here, I’m human, would you like to say that to me? Or, what part of my face doesn’t appeal to you now, my friend?”
However, Claire admitted that she doesn’t recommend her approach as a strategy, but makes the point: “If I sat there sending messages like that to people, I think that I should expect somebody to pull me up on it.”
In the full feature, Claire also talks about her milestone birthday turning 50 and how it inspired her to shake things up in her life, keeping her family life private and her latest podcast venture.
Find all that and much more in the July|August issue of Irish Country Magazine. Find your nearest stockist here, or to subscribe and never miss an issue, click here.
