Sky News: Presentation Discussion

Back in October 2008, how time flies!

then I do not understand why matthew lorenzo wrote : Early next month it marks the FOURTH anniversary of one of the great brodcasters in british history...


Just seen that he has corrected it to THIRD

very sad what happens at skynews in these days. There is nearly no variation in the theme music anymore no coming up sequence with the blue background and the different music anymore, the same presenters for the same shifts,no live from the skynewscentre voiceover anymore, no variation in programmes, the breakfiller on skynews international doesn' t work anymore , too often technical errors... Very sad that once such a great newschannel has turned into this!

Depends how you define a "great newschannel". Presenters all over the place, inconsistency and lots of different pieces of music do not a great news channel make. Their coverage of events in the Middle East, of the economy, and just in general recently has been excellent. Their presentation is less dramatic than before, and the focus is more on the news than banter between its presenters (an avenue BBC News seem to be heading down these days).

I suppose they would counter that by saying that this year has delivered some of the best journalism and some of the best ratings in the channels history (albeit aided by it being such a busy news year).

News presentation has moved on and there is no desire amongst the vast majority of viewers for the presenters to be unnecessarily walking about the studio - I think they have got the balance right now between using the technology/other presentation areas when it adds to a story but not just for the sake of it.

As far as having the same presenters in the same shifts, surely that is a good thing? It means that at almost every hour of the day there is an established, experienced presenter on air.

Programme variation is an interesting one. Personally I think the move to a more uniformed schedule with some varied shows thrown in (Sunrise, Press Preview, Boulton and Co, Murnaghan, Jeff Randall Live) has worked quite well. While stuff like SkyNews.com was all very well, the current schedule is much better equipped to deal with breaking news and is designed to offer rolling news which at the end of the day is the channels bread and butter.

I do miss the 'Sky News Today' of old (pre-2005 relaunch) but I understand the thinking behind the current set up and I actually think Sky News is as good today as it has been in quite a few years - there was a period around 2006 where the channel was a complete mess. For me this year the channel has been far superior to CNN International and BBC World.

[quote:0967718623="all new Phil" pid="724513"]Depends how you define a "great newschannel". Presenters all over the place, inconsistency and lots of different pieces of music do not a great news channel make. Their coverage of events in the Middle East, of the economy, and just in general recently has been excellent. Their presentation is less dramatic than before, and the focus is more on the news than banter between its presenters (an avenue BBC News seem to be heading down these days).[/quote:0967718623]

I have to admit that my idea of this newschannel is exceptional . I used to like sky news because of the great orchestra music and the programms. For me the fall of skynews begann after the 2010 election when Chris Roberts and the weather presenters were axed.Then skynews.com was axed and in april 2011 most programmes + part of the voiceover were axed. But another thing I can't comprehend is why they don't use the newswall backdrop anymore. They could have let the island to present sportsline. When they presented sportsline in front of the newswall everything seemed clearer and you could show the presenter + the sport story in the background. Not with this steady image of six red glow sticks in the background. They have such a great newswall they should use it more as they used to do on programmes like afternoon live.They could present world news in front of the newswall with a displayed globe backdrop.They should at least reintroduce the duo presentation

So really what you want is for most of the features that Sky got rid of over the past 6 years to come back? I don't think there's any chance of that happening.

I was concerned at the consistent desk-presenting when it was first introduced, but now that it's been there for a while it's not as bad as I first thought. The excellent coverage has been central to this, and the channel is probably stronger than it has been for a while now, especially since the Alex Crawford reporting in Tripoli.

The channel is in a stronger position than it was five years ago. I think Sky have really invested in high quality journalism, at the forefront of breaking news.

The presentation of the channel since the move to HD, I can't really fault. I think the overall on screen furniture is stunning when used correctly. We could do with a refresh of the TOTH or something though, anyone else think it's getting a bit stale now?!

Whilst us geeks may miss the good old days of sweeping shots, and occasions where Steve Dixon is throwing to Mark Longhurst on the stairs or Kay conducting an interview on the balcony, I really think the channel has moved on and it doesn't really need those gimmicks.

Bolton and Co use them to great effect bringing pace and bring a sense of urgency, but to be walking and talking all day everyday is just not needed when the channel has stunning journalism that is streets ahead of the competition. Let's be honest, at least there is more variation in the presentation compared with BBC News Channel who are restricted to a shoebox!

no but at least I would like to have the newswall backdrop and the double presentation back

I'd be interested to hear why you'd like double presentation. I find it clunky most of the time. I think it's a virtue that most of the Sky presenters can sustain a programme on their own, and reverting to two presenters would be a backward step.

Instead of two presenters there is now the main presenter, alongside sport business weather plus guests and editors/ reporters that sometimes come in. So it's probably best they don't, but still a format I miss, sky today with the three presenters made it look very modern and fast pace, but it didn't work out for them.

I personally still like the TOTH. I'm not a fan of the laptop and iPad graphic - I think they shouldn't move towards the viewers, but should just fade out. The channel is more serious than in the past and these flash little 3D graphics aren't necessary anymore.

I guess a bit more of the newswall would be good - possibly in the former Live Desk slot and between 8 and 9pm slots. Just rotate the desk so that the presenter has it as the background. It's not a big issue though.
I don't think double presentation is necessary, the current system of one main presenter with specialised correspondents and editors in the studio is working really well.