Social media is such a poisoned chalice

TV PRESENTER STEPH MCGOVERN TELLS HANNAH STEPHENSON ABOUT BEING STALKED AND WRITING A CRIME NOVEL

- HANNAH STEPHENSON

AN OBSESSIVE stalker who targeted TV presenter Steph McGovern has left her much more careful about posting details on social media about herself.

The former BBC Breakfast TV business presenter and host of Steph’s Packed Lunch, which ran from 2020 to 2023, says she no longer posts messages about where she will be filming and has always kept her family out of the spotlight.

“I made a conscious decision not to say (on social media) where I was before I was there. I tend to normally say after the event where I've been and what I’m doing,” says Steph, 43, who lives in the north east with her girlfriend - who is also in TV - and their five-year-old daughter.

“Social media is such a poisoned chalice. It's an amazing way to authentically talk to your audience and the people who've got you where you are.

“But I find the pressure to post quite stressful. How much do you give of your life? I have a kind of love-hate relationship with it.”

“My family have not chosen to be in the public eye,” she continues. “I don’t want them to be exposed to what is essentially quite a pressurised environment.

“It’s a place where everyone's got an opinion and I just want my partner, my daughter and my family to be able to get on with their life and not worry about what people think of it.

“In some respects I'd love to post a couple of pictures of my daughter, because I’m proud of her, but the minute I do that, that opens a door which can never be closed.”

The stalking is just one of the real-life experiences she has woven into her debut crime novel Deadline, set in the fast-paced world of live TV.

It centres on TV reporter Rose Steedman whose live interview with the chancellor of the exchequer is hijacked by a voice in her earpiece saying that he has her wife and son and to follow his orders to keep them safe. A side story involves a stalker who is convinced he and Rose are in a relationship.