FR
Sky's coverage has really come into its own with the reshuffle; they were really on the case while the BBC was still winding up its morning shows (Breakfast simulcast on News 24 'til 9.00, bizarrely).
Jon Craig's been brilliant, trying to make it up whilst out of the studio and with his back to the front door of no.10. Adam Boulton, who's been up all night looks a bit tired, bless.
Jon Craig's been brilliant, trying to make it up whilst out of the studio and with his back to the front door of no.10. Adam Boulton, who's been up all night looks a bit tired, bless.
TI
I have just discovered Steve Dixon's website. It has some excellent behind-the-scenes pictures of the current Sky News Centre and the last studio. It is well worth checking out. There's some nice pictures of Steve also 
TI
Are you on the moon!? Or perhaps half asleep.
Sky's coverage of the reshuffle has been dreadful. Actually, worse than dreadful. They haven't spoken to ANY leader of ANY party (the BBC had Cameron and Sir Menzies on set).
There's an e-mail doing the rounds at Television Centre, sent out by Peter Horrocks, which show screen grabs from News 24 and Sky.
The strap on Sky says:
NEW FOREIGN SECRETARY EXPECTED TO BE CHARLES CLARKE
The strap on News 24 says:
CHARLES CLARKE TO LEAVE THE HOME OFFICE
Sky thought that Charles Clarke was going to be the new Foreign Secretary!? They thought this while Nick Robinson was interviewing him after being sacked!
And you think Sky had a brilliant morning covering the reshuffle? Go back to under your rock mate.
Quote:
Sky's coverage has really come into its own with the reshuffle; they were really on the case while the BBC was still winding up its morning shows (Breakfast simulcast on News 24 'til 9.00, bizarrely).
Jon Craig's been brilliant, trying to make it up whilst out of the studio and with his back to the front door of no.10. Adam Boulton, who's been up all night looks a bit tired, bless.
Jon Craig's been brilliant, trying to make it up whilst out of the studio and with his back to the front door of no.10. Adam Boulton, who's been up all night looks a bit tired, bless.
Are you on the moon!? Or perhaps half asleep.
Sky's coverage of the reshuffle has been dreadful. Actually, worse than dreadful. They haven't spoken to ANY leader of ANY party (the BBC had Cameron and Sir Menzies on set).
There's an e-mail doing the rounds at Television Centre, sent out by Peter Horrocks, which show screen grabs from News 24 and Sky.
The strap on Sky says:
NEW FOREIGN SECRETARY EXPECTED TO BE CHARLES CLARKE
The strap on News 24 says:
CHARLES CLARKE TO LEAVE THE HOME OFFICE
Sky thought that Charles Clarke was going to be the new Foreign Secretary!? They thought this while Nick Robinson was interviewing him after being sacked!
And you think Sky had a brilliant morning covering the reshuffle? Go back to under your rock mate.
JA
Not to mention the "remote" isn't even in 4:3 safe area. I'm guessing it's being used to put some kind of branding on the channel as well, if other programmes want to use their footage. Quite sneaky really.
Musey posted:
yeah these active straps on the weekend are pissing me off now, it looks awful it ruins whatever is being shown!
Not to mention the "remote" isn't even in 4:3 safe area. I'm guessing it's being used to put some kind of branding on the channel as well, if other programmes want to use their footage. Quite sneaky really.
OL
It does appear that, apart from when there's breaking news, the Active Press Red strap has become the 'new normal' for much of the weekend's output.
Which got me wondering: what could be the thought process behind it? Is there one? It can't be part of a carefully planned and thought out strategy, because surely they'd beat us over the head with it during the week as well?
Could it be down to branding as James suggests? It's easily defeated however: I saw a clip on N24 taken from Sky, and they simply put their own graphics over the top.
One possible reason could be they want to get those viewers on Freeview and cable (where AFAIK press red won't work for Sky News) onto the Sky Digital platform.
Another argument might be that the vast majority of viewers only watch for a very small number of minutes each week, so the amount of annoyance caused is relatively small. But why aren't they doing things to encourage people to watch for longer? Surely better for selling advertising?
Talking of which... one consequence is that it encourages people to switch away from the main output, which means those viewers won't see the ads at all! If I was spending money advertising on Sky News I'd be pretty annoyed at the station encouraging the viewers to effectively 'tune away'. I wonder what the advertisers think about this.
It also sometimes clashes with the story being covered content-wise: e.g. 'Press red for showbiz' supered over a story about death and destruction somewhere looks really crass and insensitive.
As for mangling the viewing area - I thought the whole point of a news station on TV was to *show* us the news, not obscure it so we only see the top half of the story.
Overall, it gives the impression that the work experience bod has been let loose at the controls every weekend while the bosses are out of the office. Very amateurish indeed.
It's a shame, because there's much about Sky News which is still good, but sadly it's increasingly getting worse in other areas, and this is one example of that. Just one more reason to watch N24 instead.
If anyone has any contacts at Sky News who could find out what the official explanation is for it, I'd be fascinated to find out. Would also be interested to know what kind of feedback they've had on the matter.
Which got me wondering: what could be the thought process behind it? Is there one? It can't be part of a carefully planned and thought out strategy, because surely they'd beat us over the head with it during the week as well?
Could it be down to branding as James suggests? It's easily defeated however: I saw a clip on N24 taken from Sky, and they simply put their own graphics over the top.
One possible reason could be they want to get those viewers on Freeview and cable (where AFAIK press red won't work for Sky News) onto the Sky Digital platform.
Another argument might be that the vast majority of viewers only watch for a very small number of minutes each week, so the amount of annoyance caused is relatively small. But why aren't they doing things to encourage people to watch for longer? Surely better for selling advertising?
Talking of which... one consequence is that it encourages people to switch away from the main output, which means those viewers won't see the ads at all! If I was spending money advertising on Sky News I'd be pretty annoyed at the station encouraging the viewers to effectively 'tune away'. I wonder what the advertisers think about this.
It also sometimes clashes with the story being covered content-wise: e.g. 'Press red for showbiz' supered over a story about death and destruction somewhere looks really crass and insensitive.
As for mangling the viewing area - I thought the whole point of a news station on TV was to *show* us the news, not obscure it so we only see the top half of the story.
Overall, it gives the impression that the work experience bod has been let loose at the controls every weekend while the bosses are out of the office. Very amateurish indeed.
It's a shame, because there's much about Sky News which is still good, but sadly it's increasingly getting worse in other areas, and this is one example of that. Just one more reason to watch N24 instead.
If anyone has any contacts at Sky News who could find out what the official explanation is for it, I'd be fascinated to find out. Would also be interested to know what kind of feedback they've had on the matter.
GE
I think I heard the idea came from John Ryley, much to the chagrin of most of the staff. And, with him now in charge...
thegeek
Founding member
Olympus posted:
Also, what is the point of having the 'Active - press red for top stories' strap on screen at the top of the hour while they're actually covering the top stories on their main output? Bizarre...
MA
I think I heard the idea came from John Ryley, much to the chagrin of most of the staff. And, with him now in charge...
Indeed. I hear he's very keen on channel "branding"... and some complain of Dogs...
thegeek posted:
Olympus posted:
Also, what is the point of having the 'Active - press red for top stories' strap on screen at the top of the hour while they're actually covering the top stories on their main output? Bizarre...
Indeed. I hear he's very keen on channel "branding"... and some complain of Dogs...