Sky News an utter joke

jonny72

On the webpage, look on the left, beside such tabs as 'world news' 'politics' 'business', they actually have a 'madeleine" tab..

I decided to give them a chance and clicked on the 'world news' tab..

The big story - "Paris Hilton has been released from prison after serving just half of her sentence."

I knew they've been headed this way for awhile, but you can't get much worse than that. How do they win the 24 hour news channel of the year awards? Surely someone will cop on soon and just setup a 24hr Entertainment 'news' channel.

garthv

Youve only realised this now?

Kevster

I've been watching Sky News for the past 8 years and I've notived them shifting from 'broadsheet-style' to 'tabloid-style' journalism. It baffle me how they've won News Channel of the Year...


...they are becoming more like Fox news by the month.

jb91

Sky News ticker:

: NEWS ALERT : PARIS HILTON HAS BEEN RELEASED FROM PRISON : NEWS ALERT : Bush declares nuclear war : sky.com/news : Al Quaeda threaten further attacks : Press Red : : NEWS ALERT : PARIS HILTON HAS BEEN RELEASED FROM PRISON : NEWS ALERT :

county

Kevster wrote:

I've been watching Sky News for the past 8 years and I've notived them shifting from 'broadsheet-style' to 'tabloid-style' journalism. It baffle me how they've won News Channel of the Year...


...they are becoming more like Fox news by the month.

whats the competition to be fair

Kevster

CNN, France24, Al Jazeera, EuroNews, and BBC News

Tom Dunne

jonny72 wrote:

How do they win the 24 hour news channel of the year awards? Surely someone will cop on soon and just setup a 24hr Entertainment 'news' channel.

What they do is hire upper-middle class, well educated presenters to give it an air of respectability. So when the chavs are watching it, they don't realise the content has been dumbed down so they can understand it. They also pick classic tabloid-style stories that the chavs associate with.

I have to say, though, I think BBC News 24 is slowly sliding in that direction.

Dublin's Finest

I would argue that 24 hour news stations are a failed experiment.

The need to fill time inevitably leads to experts and commentators being brought on to pad out coverage until some new information comes to light.

kmick

Sky news - tur it off is all I can say.

My take on it would be ALL news is a failed experiment. Even RTE are starting the slide into tabloid journalism. Charlie Bird/George Lee are the main proponents of this. The breathless wide eye shock story.

Plus the whole tell it to them at the top, main story, tell it to them at the bottom of each headline is so moronic.

jb91

jonny72 wrote:

How do they win the 24 hour news channel of the year awards?

I think BBC News 24 have held it for the last year or two.

Sky News have only started to get tabloidy since BBC N24 passed them out in the viewership figures. I agree that Sky News is going downhill but what's the point in having 2 identical services competing with each other? ITV News is also getting very tabloidy.

DarkJager

Euronews is the only station I'd watch now tbh. Its unbiased and a lot more interesting than Sky News.

tonc76

Kevster wrote:

I've been watching Sky News for the past 8 years and I've notived them shifting from 'broadsheet-style' to 'tabloid-style' journalism. It baffle me how they've won News Channel of the Year...


...they are becoming more like Fox news by the month.

Aren't both channels owned by Murdoch so no surprise there

Dublin's Finest

DarkJager wrote:

Euronews is the only station I'd watch now tbh. Its unbiased and a lot more interesting than Sky News.

Yeah, I've always liked this too. It's on at an ungodly hour though.

jdivision

Sky News has the worst possible case of CNN syndrome. The need to fill time and create headlines means every tiny event has to be hyped in order to justify continued coverage. I have stopped watching it and now read international newspapers on the net.

jb91

Dublin's Finest wrote:

Yeah, I've always liked this too. It's on at an ungodly hour though.

It's on 24/7 on Sky. I think it's channel 509.

Dublin's Finest

jb91 wrote:

It's on 24/7 on Sky. I think it's channel 509.

Good stuff, cheers.:)

Tom Dunne

jdivision wrote:

Sky News has the worst possible case of CNN syndrome. The need to fill time and create headlines means every tiny event has to be hyped in order to justify continued coverage. I have stopped watching it and now read international newspapers on the net.

I don't think CNN is that bad. They are possibly the least biased of all the US channels and they have a couple of decent reporters.

Having said that, now that I think of it, I haven't watched CNN in the last 3 months

Mitch Connor

I love the US News, especially just before they got to an ad break

"In a special report, we reveal the 15 substances in your home that could wipe out all life as we know it.....after these messages."

Dublin's Finest

tom dunne wrote:

I don't think CNN is that bad. They are possibly the least biased of all the US channels and they have a couple of decent reporters.

Having said that, now that I think of it, I haven't watched CNN in the last 3 months

I don't think CNN has been as badly affected as others but it's still part of that wayward slide in US TV news that has happened in the US over the last 8 or 9 years. Partisan reporting just seems to be the accepted modus operandi over there nowadays.

philologos

I noticed that on the Sky News site as well, reflects badly on them imo.

jb91

I just logged on to their website and saw "BREAKING NEWS : TWO BOMBS WERE SET TO BLOW IN LONDON" animate onto the screen :rolleyes:

Deliverance

Well at least one news reader is making a stand:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/25498/

I don't know what news station this is but fair play to her!

standbyme

I was trying to post about $ky news coverage? on the attack on Glasgow Airport last nite but couldnt find anything when i done a search on boards?

I was just about to watch 'Jekyll' when i saw the end of the newsflash & was wondering did it happen b4 9pm, so i turned on to $ky news to find more coverage (now i wish i didnt) it wasnt til i saw the live news conference by The Strathclyde Police when i heard it happened about 3.15pm

Now between 9-9.30 not once did they say it happened in the afternoon!!the info wasnt even in their 8 interactive screens

It just seemed to be they were dragging the story endlessly for 6 hours & making it look 'live'

Also i have a cousin in Glasgow Airport check-in, so i have a genuine concern, not that anyone wouldnt have of what seemed to be an atrocious attack & thank god no-one was hurt.

jb91

Even BBC News 24 were still calling it "Breaking News" at one in the morning :rolleyes:

I wonder what phrase Sky News will use when there's a major catastrophe if "Breaking News", "News ALERT" etc mean that Paris Hilton has been released from jail...

Tom Dunne

jb91 wrote:

I wonder what phrase Sky News will use when there's a major catastrophe if "Breaking News", "News ALERT" etc mean that Paris Hilton has been released from jail...

Probably something like "YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED: catastrophe in XYZ"

I often think the whole concept of tabloid news (I won't even dignify it with the term journalism) would make an excellent sociology thesis.

Nick_oliveri

I think its a catastrophy. Cant believe the "madeline" tab on the website. Keep milking it guys.

As for that Terrorjism story and complete fearmongering....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhJZqtta3c4

Cabaal

Kevster wrote:

CNN, France24, Al Jazeera, EuroNews, and BBC News

jesus!
Euronews is a far far better network and atleast they don't add their own views to stuff, they just report the news like a news channel should

Who's judging this farce..sky?

When I was in the states in May I was watching Fox News just for the laugh and they had a story regarding a pedophile and the presenter said "thats disgusting" at the end of it, I mean wtf?

These people should be sacked, I don't want to know what they think of the story I can make up my own bloody mind to be honest

irish_bob

even though the awfull mr murdoch owns a substantial stake in sky news
41% or thereabouts i think, i have always found the chanell to be a quality service , ive never found it to have a poltical agenda towards any particular political party like the way fox news so blatantly does in the usa

i think it gets a bum rap due to murdoch having a large stake in it
a case of guilt by association , sure it had the snazzy news flash alerts but thats the way media including the news has gone lately
they have some excellent reporters and presenters apart from the extremley irritatting kay burley , tim marshall is excellent oh and the sports coverage is excellent and regulary updated
all in all i think sky news is a quality news channell , perhaps even as good as the BBC

Nick_oliveri

irish_bob wrote:

all in all i think sky news is a quality news channell , perhaps even as good as the BBC

I will lol at this. But dont take it the wrong way!!

Today they had one story rolling across the "news ticker".
Something about someone getting caught smoking on a train.

po0k

They were harping on about the PS3 game featuring Manchester Cathedral and the inflated kerfuffle they tried to rise.
That was barely newsworthy last week, never mind today.

irish_bob

Nick_oliveri Quote:
Originally Posted by irish_bob
all in all i think sky news is a quality news channell , perhaps even as good as the BBC


I will lol at this. But dont take it the wrong way!!

Today they had one story rolling across the "news ticker".
Something about someone getting caught smoking on a train.


its a 24 hour news chanell , it cant devote every second to human tragedy , the person caught smoking on the train was charles kennedy , former leader of the liberal democrats and a member of parliment
no different to rte reporting on fine gael td john deasy smoking in the dail a few yrs ago after the smoking ban was introduced here
its pure snobbery the contempt shown towards sky news in here
i realise the fact that murdoch has a large stake in the channell will immiedietly deem it unworthy for some people but its not the sun newspaper and its nothing likes its cousin fox news in the usa which is pure propoganda

transylman

irish_bob wrote:

even though the awfull mr murdoch owns a substantial stake in sky news
41% or thereabouts i think, i have always found the chanell to be a quality service , ive never found it to have a poltical agenda towards any particular political party like the way fox news so blatantly does in the usa

The only reason it isn't openly biased in favour of one political party is because under British law news on television has to be unbiased. Rupert Murdoch has said he would like it to be more like Fox news and I'm sure in time he will be able to pressure politicians to get rid of that annoying little law.

All this still hasn't stopped Sky news presenting a slightly skewed version of events that coincide with Murdochs views (right-wing pro Iraq War).

irish_bob

transylman Quote:
Originally Posted by irish_bob
even though the awfull mr murdoch owns a substantial stake in sky news
41% or thereabouts i think, i have always found the chanell to be a quality service , ive never found it to have a poltical agenda towards any particular political party like the way fox news so blatantly does in the usa



The only reason it isn't openly biased in favour of one political party is because under British law news on television has to be unbiased. Rupert Murdoch has said he would like it to be more like Fox news and I'm sure in time he will be able to pressure politicians to get rid of that annoying little law.

All this still hasn't stopped Sky news presenting a slightly skewed version of events that coincide with Murdochs views (right-wing pro Iraq War).




that as far as i can see is pure speculation on your part
besides ive never evidence of sky being any more pro iraq war than the bbc
they have in depth anylisis of the war on a regular basis , where as on fox news they dont even report on the iraq war and american casualties any more as it makes bush look bad
i think your just want to hate sky news due to its association with the awful murdoch , i dont think thier is any damming evidence on show here

Tom Dunne

irish_bob wrote:

i think your just want to hate sky news due to its association with the awful murdoch , i dont think thier is any damming evidence on show here

I would like to see your LOL and raise it a ROFL.

I judge a station on what it presents me, not on who owns it. I look at the focus on those wretched "human interest" stories, I look at the hype, I look at the hysteria generated by flashing graphics and scrolling messages, I look at the range of "experts" giving "opinions", I look at the station as a money-making machine, trying to keep the less-sophisticated viewer tuned in through gimmicks such as "have your say" and "press red now".

Could I ask you a question - do you by any chance read the tabloid newspapers?

transylman

irish_bob wrote:

that as far as i can see is pure speculation on your part
besides ive never evidence of sky being any more pro iraq war than the bbc
they have in depth anylisis of the war on a regular basis , where as on fox news they dont even report on the iraq war and american casualties any more as it makes bush look bad
i think your just want to hate sky news due to its association with the awful murdoch , i dont think thier is any damming evidence on show here

First of all, where did I say anything about hating Sky news. I don't.

Second, a study was carried out by the Cardiff School of Journalism of news coverage prior to the war. They found that while the news organisations all fell within a pretty narrow range in terms of giving a voice to the different sides of the argument, Sky was pro war, channel 4 was anti and the BBC and ITV took a pretty neutral position.

Milktrolley

Sky News used to be really good and dependable. But now, even the way its graphics scream sensationalism. Funny thing is that back in the 90s, there was a major row between BSkyB chiefs and station chiefs about the direction of the channel, with the new Sky MD wanting the channel to loosen up a bit. I wonder what those station chiefs (who held their ground at the time, I believe) would think of Sky News now.

A little over a year ago, the website ran a story of how a six-year-old girl was kidnapped from her home at night. In what is nothing more than an absolute low and a terrible editorial decision, Sky decide to run with the headline Girl, 6, Found Wandering Naked.

EuroNews is by far the most neutral, but it lacks a certain charisma. It's severly limited in its presentation options because it's simultaneously translated in seven languages, but even so content is always more important than presentation.

I could pick out so many examples that I've witnessed first-hand on Fox News but I'm sure there's worse out there. The night of the London bombings, Bill O'Reilly ranted about how some good might come out of it because people would get behind the war. He outlined that his first thought was Al-Qaida trying to disrupt the G8 and his second was that "now, maybe Europe will wise up." He even had the nerve to call Europeans "clueless", and all this 16 hours after a deadly attack - real classy there...

That link to the anchor ripping up her script about Paris Hilton is from MSNBC, which I enjoy taking a look at but it is fairly liberal. That said, Fox News are more sensationalist by far. There's an interesting take on Murdoch here: (Part 1) (Part 2). There's an interesting, albeit critical piece on EuroNews here.

Didn't expect to write that much tbh, but thanks for taking a look at my €0.02 anyway

irish_bob

EuroNews is by far the most neutral, but it lacks a certain charisma. It's severly limited in its presentation options because it's simultaneously translated in seven languages, but even so content is always more important than presenta


euro news is baschially eurosport with news instead of tractor pulling
it is run on a shoe string budget , has no visible presenters and is about as descriptive as the news on the teletext, its ok if you want a basic rundown of the days headlines but thier is zero discussion or anylisis
cant see how anyone would rate it or ever regard it as a news chanell

as regards the comments from the poster who claims that sky has too many flashy graphics , so what , dont be such a snob , murdochs finger prints are bound to be on it somewhere , as regards your question do i read a tabloid newspaper , well i dont buy a daily newspaper by and large , i buy the sunday indo like most irish people but i read a good few papers online

as regards the comment that research has shown that sky supported the iraq war , ive never heard of that report and am suspicious that is actually exists
fox news in the usa most certainly cheerled and banged the drums for war,
funny now fox dont even report on the war as dozens of american soldiers returning home every week reflects badly on bush

but it is grossly unfair to compare the presentation of sky news in thier reporting of the way with that of the blatant propoganda machine that is fox news
sky news never had commentators on in 2003 saying that any britt who didnt support the war was a traitor and unpatriotic like fox did
sky news had the likes of george galloway on and continue to have him on
fox news when they occasionally have an anti war voice on , they either trash them there and then or the next day when thier gone

Tom Dunne

irish_bob wrote:

so what , dont be such a snob , murdochs finger prints are bound to be on it somewhere , as regards your question do i read a tabloid newspaper , well i dont buy a daily newspaper by and large , i buy the sunday indo like most irish people but i read a good few papers online

It's interesting that you, on two occasions, defend Sky News by referring to their detractors, such as me, as snobs.

Is that the best argument you can make? That we don't like Sky news because it's beneath us? If that is the case, then you are confirming my belief that it is primarily aimed at the less sophisticated viewer, one who would also purchase tabloid newspapers.

That's not snobbery, that's demographics.

micdug

Sky News is a news channel?
More of a watered down version of Fox which it is modeled on. My favorite was when Chocolate flavor Crisps (yes really) was #2 news item for a whole day.
Regarding "News Channel of the Year" - who says that? it never indicates the awarding organisation so I presume it was declared so by Murdoch Inc.:cool:

flogen

irish_bob wrote:

euro news is baschially eurosport with news instead of tractor pulling
it is run on a shoe string budget , has no visible presenters and is about as descriptive as the news on the teletext, its ok if you want a basic rundown of the days headlines but thier is zero discussion or anylisis
cant see how anyone would rate it or ever regard it as a news chanell

Well discussion or analysis are not actually news, they're at best there for context, but can often dip into comment and editorialisation.

Euronews is, in fact the only 100% news channel out there - I don't particularly like the format it chooses but it stays away from the potential of presenter or producer-based interference more than others do.

as regards the comments from the poster who claims that sky has too many flashy graphics , so what , dont be such a snob , murdochs finger prints are bound to be on it somewhere , as regards your question do i read a tabloid newspaper , well i dont buy a daily newspaper by and large , i buy the sunday indo like most irish people but i read a good few papers online

I'd just like to correct some things here - firstly, while the Sunday Independent's owners would love the majority of us to read that particular paper every week, most Irish people do not. According to the latest readership figures, while the Sunday Independent is the most read Sunday paper, it has an estimated readership of around 1 million - 1/4 of the Irish population.

Secondly, The Sunday Independent stopped being a news paper many moons ago.

Thirdly, there's nothing snobby about criticising flashy graphics - I'm sure you've seen some badly designed websites with flashing images, for example, that really put you off (or gave you a headache).

as regards the comment that research has shown that sky supported the iraq war , ive never heard of that report and am suspicious that is actually exists
fox news in the usa most certainly cheerled and banged the drums for war,
funny now fox dont even report on the war as dozens of american soldiers returning home every week reflects badly on bush

It does exist, but it actually found the BBC to be the most pro-war out of all the main British broadcasters, interestingly enough.

but it is grossly unfair to compare the presentation of sky news in thier reporting of the way with that of the blatant propoganda machine that is fox news

Whatever about content, presentation style is very similar.

sky news had the likes of george galloway on and continue to have him on
fox news when they occasionally have an anti war voice on , they either trash them there and then or the next day when thier gone

In fairness, having a guest of a certain political persuasion on doesn't always constitute balance - sure Fox News even have a "liberal" "co"-host on Hannity and Colmes and Bill O'Reilly often has people from opposing ideologies on his show, but it doesn't make either of them balanced.
I've seen Galloway on Sky News once before and the interviewer did seem to be really going for him (in fairness, that's better than giving him a free ride), but Galloway could talk his way out of a Turkish prison even if he had heroin coming out his ears so he came out on top anyway.

irish_bob

Secondly, The Sunday Independent stopped being a news paper many moons ago.


your confusing opinion with fact

tom dunne claims that my defense of sky news and praise of the sunday indo is down to a lack of sophistication , and you refute the accusation that your a snob , that statement sums your snobbery right up

flogen

irish_bob wrote:

your confusing opinion with fact

No, I just gave my opinion which I believe to be fact - you may (and obviously do) disagree.

tom dunne claims that my defense of sky news and praise of the sunday indo is down to a lack of sophistication , and you refute the accusation that your a snob , that statement sums your snobbery right up

I'm a bit baffled as to why you're using someone else's argument to counter my point.
Then you proceed to say that my refutation of snobbery makes me a snob. How?
Once again, I don't see how being critical of design is automatically snobby, perhaps you can explain how it is.

To be frank you're using the term 'snob' in a knee-jerk fashion in an attempt to rebuke any opinion that differs from your own. That isn't snobby in itself, but it certainly shows the ignorance of a snob.

Tom Dunne

flogen wrote:

To be frank you're using the term 'snob' in a knee-jerk fashion in an attempt to rebuke any opinion that differs from your own. That isn't snobby in itself, but it certainly shows the ignorance of a snob.

Methinks somebody doesn't know how to coherently debate a point, and put forward a logical argument, never mind use the quote feature of Boards.ie.

Milktrolley

Just on the News Channel of the Year award, it's given out by the Royal Television Society. Wikipedia describes it as an organisation for "the discussion, analysis and preservation of television in all its forms, past, present and future". You'll often see the winner referring to itself as 'RTS News Channel of the Year'. I'm not sure how prestigious it actually is, but for a good few years a lot of bragging rights have accompanied the award. BBC News 24 won it in 2006, other than that it's pretty much been Sky News all the way.

GusherING

Watch Channel 4 news for a good hour of daily news. Nothing else compares.

Soby

Anyone hear the woman on Sky yesterday get the date of all things wrong then mis pronouce a word..the word is ok but to get the date wrong i mean come on...

irish_bob

it was stated in her that the reason i have regard for both the sunday indo and sky news is due to my lack of sophistication , if i accused the wrong person of having said this then an appology is due but regardless of that mistake , that in my book is a snobby statement

Radio Mad.

GusherING wrote:

Watch Channel 4 news for a good hour of daily news. Nothing else compares.

I couldn't agree more. ITN/Channel 4 News demonstrates how news can and should be done on TV.

ITN is a top-notch news organisation, and has been for years. This despite the best efforts of its main paymaster and chief shareholder, ITV, to run it in to the ground.

Jigsaw

Sky News = pish

BBC News = Pretty good

Channel 4 news = ftw

Tom Dunne

irish_bob wrote:

it was stated in her that the reason i have regard for both the sunday indo and sky news is due to my lack of sophistication , if i accused the wrong person of having said this then an appology is due but regardless of that mistake , that in my book is a snobby statement

WTF?

Will you drop the snobbery nonsense, once and for all, please?