Newsreaders who can't read news

Who else is becoming increasingly frustrated with newsreaders who simply cannot read news properly? Remember the old days of good newscasters, who read the autocue flowingly, like Philip Hayton or Martyn Lewis? Now we have to put up with stuttering frightened mice, losing the autocue, and looking out of their depth.

Here is a list of newsreaders I feel are not up to the job:

Penny Smith - self obsessed
Sophie Raworth - agonizing stilted delivery
George Alagiah - just reads it with no personality
Oruj Defoite - where's the sick bucket?
Matthew Amroliwala - loves himself too much
Emily Maitlis - scary
Natasha Kaplinsky - unprofessional
Mark Austin - vacant
Mary Nightingale - high pitched voice

Feel free to add your own

George Alagiah just frustrates me with his hand movements to emphasise points.

I think Moria Stuart is great but my Media Studies teacher pointed out to me at school that she always fluffs her lines / stumbles at least once in a bulletin, and every time since I've noticed it's true. I still think she's one of the best though

I've noticed Mark Austin stumbling a few times...

James Rubin is horrendous whenever Sky wheel him out for an international special - they might have looked at his presenting style before hiring him for the disaster that was World News Tonight.

they cant exactly have to read the words too fast as the autocue has a pedal which you can control the speed of it...

Based on the criteria in this thread it pretty much rules out anyone who shows no sign of personality and anyone who shows signs of personality!

Sophie Raworth - A damn good interviewer, but agree stilted
George Alagiah - Might as well have the news read by a robot, or even better have text scroll across the screen.
Matthew Amroliwala- Wants a mirror, not a camera
Emily Maitlis - Scary, yes, but has a good voice and I find her scary features somewhat attractive.
Natasha Kaplinsky - Cotton wool for brains.
Kate Silverton - Bitch
Ellie Crissel - Simpleton

Peter Sissons when he is on news 24 and he has some "breaking news" he fluffs all the time!

James Mates also tends to get a bit flustered.

In defence of Ellie Cresswell, she is getting better

Well, on the main networks, the presenter doesn't control the foot pedal. They have a designated Autocue operator in the gallery.

Not wanting to defend some of those presenters listed above, as I agree with you, but if you've ever sat in a TV News gallery, then you'll know just what a presenter has to listen to while reading the autocue and conducting interviews. They have to be listening to the gallery all the time, as there are frequent running order changes, alerts for breaking news etc. Taking CNN as an example, the London presenter has to listen to both the London and Atlanta galleries, not to mention the fact that they have to speak several seconds ahead of Atlanta because of the satellite delay. It isn't as easy as it looks. I'm not surprised presenters fluff lines occasionally.

Yep - if you listen to what's going through someone's talkback (like the Six break-in incident which you kindly provided a video of - thanks very much) then you'll realise that it's almost impossible for someone to follow what they're meant to be doing.

I think Emily is just about the best they have at the moment.

I have been in a newsreading situation before (albeit not with a major news corp) and know what it is like to read the news when an irritating man is jabbering in your ear, but a lot of them are paid between 250k-400k per year, and should deliver a professional service for that amount of money.