A female journalist was surprised to learn that she was not being compensated for a conversation about equality in the media, but her male colleague was.
Following Laurence Fox’s sexist outburst against Ava Evans, Moya Lothian-McLean, a contributing editor at Novara Media, and GB News writer Connor Tomlinson were invited on Sky News on Wednesday (September 27).
The two journalists were discussing the condition of the media landscape after Fox was fired from GB News for making a series of disparaging remarks about Evans, Joe’s political correspondent, including: ‘Who would want to shag that?’
While lamenting the treatment of women in the media and in society as a whole, Moya Moya said she was ‘exhausted’ having to constantly explain sexism before being interrupted by Connor, who added, ‘I’m sorry you’re so exhausted to be paid to go on air.’
Moya responded that she had not been paid for her Sky News appearance and had accepted to take part in the panel to raise awareness about deeply ingrained misogyny and the ‘degradation of women in public life’.
It then dawned on Moya that Connor was being paid for a debate during which he argued the pay gap was a myth: ‘I’m not getting paid for this. Are you getting paid for this?’
Pointing out the hypocrisy later on X, formerly known as Twitter, Moya wrote: ‘Sorry I’ve just clocked – the man who was arguing society isn’t structurally unequal for women was getting paid to appear in a ‘debate’ about misogyny and I wasn’t…’
Moya subsequently stated that she had confirmed Connor had been promised a fee to appear on Sky News and had demanded the same amount, which she would donate to Beyond Equality, an organisation that offers courses that educate young men about rejecting patriarchal society in favour of good masculinity.
It comes after Evans, who said Fox’s diatribe left her feeling’really wounded’ and that he made remarks about her body rather than her profession, disclosed she had received online threats.
Sorry I've just clocked – the man who was arguing society isn't structurally unequal for women was getting paid to appear in a 'debate' about misogyny and I wasn't… https://t.co/2fTgMj0AUd
— Moya Lothian-McLean (@mlothianmclean) September 27, 2023
Laurence Fox’s vile rant on GB News – in full
We’re past the watershed so I can say this: show me a single self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that woman, ever, ever, who wasn’t an Incel?
‘That little woman has been fed, spoon-fed oppression day after day after day… starting with the lie of the gender wage gap, and she’s sat there and I’m going, if I met you in a bar and that was like sentence three, chances of me just walking away are just huge.
‘We need powerful strong amazing women who make great points for themselves, we don’t need these sort of feminist 4.0… they’re pathetic and embarrassing. Who would want to shag that?’
On the BBC News podcast, she said: ‘I don’t know where this is going to go. I don’t know how social media is going to react to the news [that Fox has been suspended].
‘There is a following that he has that is quite fanatical. I think that’s possibly the most polite way I can say it and I’ve already been looking at a few threats that have come into my inbox, and I’m like, over the evening, is this going to really ramp up and maybe I’m going to have to watch over my shoulder before I go to my house, just so that I know no one’s looking at where I live.
‘Just before we came in here, there was a tweet that said “watch your back”.
