Sky News: Presentation Discussion

Must say I found the side panel very useful for insight and background into the situation in Thailand that I didn't know a huge amount about, it really is a worthwhile feature. I wonder will they be sending anyone to cover the story, Alex Crawford perhaps?

According to Martin on Twitter they are aiming to get HD footage of the shuttle launch that is taking place during the Dot Com show tonight which could be fantastic.

EDIT: Martin now saying they are having trouble with the HD feed and won't have it for tonight, apologies.

Wow, the criticism of Burley is increasing. Wil this have any impact on her job at Sky? I don't think so. Sky need to poach a new female presenter to replace her.

Hmm, wonder if the HD feed cost too much

It's here in HD apparently.... http://www.spacevidcast.com/

After seeing more of Afternoon Live and SkyNews.com, the new teal-blue colours of the Sky graphics on the newswall really don't blend well with the studio, everything else seems too bright and blue in comparison in the studio.

Sky News is going down hill IMO!

The HD revamp and their coverage of election has casted doubt over Sky News.

Burley and Boulton should go!

Very informative and articulate. Thanks for the great reasoning you gave us for your opinion also.

To be honest, I completely disagree. The HD revamp seems to have gone well, the side panels, from what I've seen, have added a lot of information and detail, and the overall election coverage has been good, except for Kay and Adam towards the end.
Yes questions have been asked about the impartiality, but that is just a handful of presenters who are bias, although sadly they are big-personality anchors, such as Burley, Boulton and Randall.

If I was looking back on the past month or so, from an executive point of view, it's clear that the Kay and Adam should be put in their places, possibly having their roles in the channel changed. Adam should no longer have such a massive job - he should either host Sunday Live and be a presenter, or simply be a Political Editor/Correspondent. He shouldn't be both.

I'm not sure what other role Kay Burley could do in the channel, maybe Afternoon Live could be shortened (Live Desk at 4pm?), but it certainly seems that there are many other presenters hot on her heels to present a main show - Sarah Hughes looks likely to have a bigger role in the channel, and Colin Brazier seems under-used just presenting the Live Desk. Plus Lorna Dunkley has to fit in somewhere again when she returns from maternity leave, which pushes Paula Middlehurst and Jayne Secker out of their Weekend Lunchtime slots and into lesser-viewed shows like NSW and occasionally News at Ten.
There are many presenters in the channel that seem to be overlooked because of the dominance of shows by those that have been in the channel for many years - and it looks like it is affecting Sky's appearance.
That's just my personal view though - if you have any points, fire away!

That's a load of rubbish frankly. Burley is not biased, she's just a poor journalist who has had her name put up in big lights. Everyone keeps focusing on the wrong issue with her - it's the fact she really can't conduct a decent interview. She is a very good presenter though- Sky should consider sticking her in front of an autocue more.

Adam Boulton is fine, he's not the worlds best and clearly when the election 'over-ran' he's burnt out, but it seemed to me his bizarre antics with the likes of Alistair Campbell were more to do with over tiredness.

Jeff Randall though - he's a guy that doesn't get the whole impartiality thing, coming from the newspaper world maybe its understandable, but it is also unacceptable.

[quote="Thomas" pid="663229"]

No doubt, when Ofcom deliver their verdicts on Boulton and Burley they will be vindicated. As for Randall, have there been any official complaints?

Randall and bias were two words always linked together when he served as Business Editor for the BBC for four years. He said this in 2006.

Interesting aside.

The library footage of Ed Miliband this morning includes shots of him in the 38 Degrees office with David Babbs.

Ben,

Well said in your post above. (Don't want to overquote posts on posts on posts, as sometimes happens on here). But I think your comments w.r.t. Kay Burley and Adam Boulton are somewhat spot-on. Kay is probably ok at "reading the news", and not so good at the "think on your feet quickly" stuff. Adam, I agree, was probably just over-tired after a marathon week (months) of heightened activity. I personally don't know how they all kept up with it.

James

I would say the opposite. Kay Burley is excellent with live non-autocue presentation. I can't think of many better than her at live TV.