ABC Europe Correspondent Lisa Millar judged for wearing same jacket during Paris attacks reporting [Watch Video]
ABC Europe Correspondent Lisa Millar was recently criticised by a Twitter follower named Stephen Blackman for her lack of wardrobe rotation skills. Blackman was bored to see Millar in the same jacket day after day while she was reporting the dreaded Paris attacks. To everybody’s utter disbelief, Blackman tweeted Millar saying that she should make it a priority to visit a David Jones store and buy some new clothes.
The Walkley Award winning journalist at first found it difficult to believe what she read and responded with a “huh?” Blackman, failing to understand the tone of the experienced journalist responded back with another tweet, this time referring to Millar’s same jacket reporting.
@LisaMillar Don't you think when time permits a visit to "David Jones" for a few more clothes might be a priority?
— stephen blackman (@stephenblackma1) November 24, 2015
@stephenblackma1 huh?
— Lisa Millar (@LisaMillar) November 24, 2015
@LisaMillar Da...the same jacket...report after report....I'm sure you follow...
— stephen blackman (@stephenblackma1) November 25, 2015
@stephenblackma1 Funnily enough I didn't have time to shop. Mental note to self - pack better when covering breaking news tragedies
— Lisa Millar (@LisaMillar) November 25, 2015
Millar posted a photo of the jacket that kicked up the Twitter storm.
The offending black jacket taking time out on the chair after Twitter frenzy @JamesMcHale @FlipPrior @sister_ratched pic.twitter.com/qoNWGktQgA
— Lisa Millar (@LisaMillar) November 25, 2015
Soon, support started pouring in for Millar, especially from male journalists who pointed out how female journalists are always criticised harshly for even little things they do and as trivial as wearing the same jacket.
Today host Karl Stefanovic wore the same suit for a year and no one noticed anything. He did so as an experiment to prove the double standards prevailing in today’s society with respect to men and women. He never received a single comment about his suit.
“No one has noticed; no one gives a s**t. But women, they wear the wrong colour and they get pulled up. They say the wrong thing and there’s thousands of tweets written about them,” said Stefanovic, reports News.com.au.
Lay off Stephen, everyone. He's simply mixed up Paris Terrorism Tragedy Week with Paris Fashion Week. Easy mistake. https://t.co/VYmwopwBN1
— James McHale (@JamesMcHale) November 25, 2015
@stephenblackma1 @LisaMillar Stephen your experience on how to dress for 15 day field reporting on disasters will be gripping. Please share
— Michael Carey (@MichaeCarey) November 25, 2015
@LisaMillar @stephenblackma1 one of my cameramen wore the same underwear for five days straight because he had so little time to pack!
— Tom Steinfort (@tomsteinfort) November 25, 2015
News Corp Australia’s TV writer, Holly Byrnes challenged all female news anchors to wear same jackets to show solidarity with Millar.
How about wear the same jacket as yesterday in solidarity @Lisa_Wilkinson @samarmytage @SarahHarris @SylviaJeffreys https://t.co/H5hkJFABzD
— Holly Byrnes (@byrnesh) November 25, 2015
Millar took Blackman’s criticism jokingly as she said that the “entertainment” was welcome after 10 days of continuous reporting and that she was not upset. However, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, Millar did clearly mention some attitudes never change.
Millar flew to France right after news of the Paris attacks broke. She reported on the attacks tirelessly and was highly praised for it. In 2015, she was appointed as Bureau Chief to the ABC's London bureau, replacing Philip Williams. Lisa has been based in London since September 2015.
Watch Millar’s fitting reply here.
Source: YouTube/ wochit News
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