CraigWills

The Sky News Thread

I suppose why was/is Kay Burley ‘off air’ for six month when the other two sanctioned given three months? Was it *just* because she acted in a worse manner? Was it because she’s the most high profile name and is a presenter not a reporter? Or maybe that’s because she’s off air for her notice period, so will in fact not return?

Sky’s statement came relatively quickly though and Stephen & Niall have said publicly that they were covering for three months each, Stephen adding on Twitter that he’s due back to weekend duties in June. So it doesn’t seem like plans are underway beyond June. Kay also said she looked forward to returning to Sky in her statement following Sky’s back in December.

However if Kay - as a result of her birthday bash or completely unconnected - was leaving Sky, it would seem a little daft to be off air for three months and then come back for three months before leaving for a rival channel. We’ve already seen Colin taken off air after it was announced he was joining GB News.

The Sky News Thread

This constant stream of “Sky News isn’t what it used to be” is tedious. It borders on being worse than rota coverage. Not my call, but I’d almost suggest a new thread for this kind of rose tinted look back at yesteryear. While I can agree that a refresh could be in order and maybe some of the branding has gone a bit off beat - a breakfast slot no one knows what to call etc. - I doubt any refresh would bring us to anywhere like what people seem to be calling for every few days in this thread.

The clip you've linked isn’t too dissimilar to the use of the screen in the glass box, Colin Brazier on Sky News Today was standing at the screen going through the lockdown tiers, just today. Sky do have personality driven shows, the whole morning 7am-12pm is very presenter focused with Kay/Ian/Adam having their slots which have different formats utilising different way of presenting. Sky News Today, which tends to be the most general show of the day thus far, is mostly sat down behind the desk but they make use of the screen for interviews and graphics and sometimes stand up for certain elements as mentioned above. The Sarah Jane Mee show again differs from the preceding slot, by been all stood up, and again has a different brief with a more human interest skew; pre pandemic they’d often have guest in the studio in the corner area. I’ll not go further into the day as I feel like I’ve made my point, but I think people forget that sometimes it’s not about how the show is presented that differs it from one show to the other but it’s the running order and journalism.

The whole tone of the channel has changed. The mid 2000s are gone, ITV News had a pretty tabloid style back then. It’s changed considerably too. Sky was over the top, it may have been interesting to us having triple headed shows, people walking about massive studios and unnecessarily using various areas but it’s a news channel. Times change, Sky’s adapted and let’s remember while this is a presentation forum, Sky might have toned it down but the journalism is what’s most important.