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Article snippet: LONDON — This week’s Labour Party conference, an annual gathering and one of the landmark events of the British political calendar, had an unexpected attendee: a bodyguard. He was not there to protect Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s leftist leader, or any of the party’s grandees. Instead he guarded Laura Kuenssberg, the political editor of the British Broadcasting Corporation. As one of Britain’s leading political journalists, with a reputation for asking tough questions, and as a woman, Ms. Kuenssberg has long been the target of vitriolic abuse and threats of violence. But the sight of her being shadowed by a guard, and the realization that her employers must now deem those threats credible enough to warrant giving her protection, has shocked some members of the British commentariat. “It is so profoundly depressing,” said Jenni Russell, a prominent columnist and former BBC editor who also attended the conference. “The graphic level of threats to women is quite extraordinary and it’s one of the worst things to have happened in recent British public life.” Multiple journalists have seen Ms. Kuenssberg with a guard this week, although she and the BBC both declined to comment, or to confirm or deny the news. Others spoke of how her experience was part of an international trend in which public discourse has become more venomous, and trust in mainstream journalists has eroded. Her case has some parallels with the intimidation of journalists at rallies during President Trum... Link to the full article to read more