Sky News presentation - new newswall

Yeah, I'm betting you haven't laughed that much since this happened...

I completely disagree. It is not a triumph, it is a tragedy, that something as cringing, as editorially suspect, and as showy as that promo, can actually engage someone in politics, a subject that is meant to be about substance, not style. It's ironic and not in a good way.

I'm inclined to reluctantly agree I think it devalues the issue and their coverage of it.

Considering it's a promo, and not a snippet of their coverage, the "editorially suspect" bit can be ignored (despite the fact it's untrue anyway) - that leaves us with you complaining that someone who is attracted to politics by humour is a tragedy.

I could go into great detail as to why that's a silly statement - however, I think it can be summed up by saying that humour is a great leveller in politics, and the fact you dislike it in this case is merely reflective of your personality.

EDIT:


And what does a promo filled with obvious statements and clichés do?

I don't recall saying that I think it should be replaced by a promo filled with obvious statements and cliches.

Its all a scrum right now on Sky news.

I am saying that is the default style of un-"showy" promo with these sorts of programmes on most channels.

I'd say that the promo has had the desired effect - it's got people (well, us at least) talking.

I think you're in cloud cuckoo land, if you think that most promos these days are filled with obvious statements and cliches. And even if a promo is filled with obvious statements and cliches, if you think that's worse, than a promo that is editorially suspect, filled with the inherent badness that autotuning spoken words is, and made worse by the fact that the spoken words are out of the mouths of politicians, then you seriously need some help.

A promo filled with obvious statements and cliches doesn't devalue anything, nor does it add value either. The 'autotune' promos completely devalue their coverage to complete nothingness. The gulf between them is Cheddar Gorge-sized.

Sky's use of Grabyo to distribute content on social media is quite interesting (and occasionally effective).

For example, video of the Scottish flag falling at Downing Street yesterday has been viewed almost 90,000 times.

https://skynews.grabyo.com/g/v/P25wqfTO9M3

As another illustration of its effectiveness, I had occasion to upload the original breaking flash on Michael Schumacher's skiing injury. I sent the clip via the main Sky News account. I refreshed the page five seconds later and it already had 129 re-tweets, so it goes without saying I'm a big Grabyo fan.