Sky News Australia is an Australian

news channel News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tele ...

owned by

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,00 ...

. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs featuring a line-up of

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

commentators. Sky News Australia is distributed on

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

in Australia and New Zealand, while a free-to-air version of the service, Sky News Regional (which features programming from Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News) is distributed on

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

Southern Cross Austereo Southern Cross Media Group Limited, doing business as Southern Cross Austereo, is an Australian media company which operates broadcast radio and television stations. It is the largest radio broadcaster in Australia, operating 86 radio stati ...

and selected

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netw ...

stations. The channel also operates two spin-off services,

Sky News Weather Channel Sky News Weather Channel is an Australian satellite television channel owned by Australian News Channel, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia. Launched on 1 January 1999, the channel broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news and anal ...

, and public affairs service

Sky News Extra Sky News Extra (formerly A-PAC ; Australian Public Affairs Channel) is an Australian 24-hour cable and satellite public affairs news channel owned by Foxtel. History On 8 December 2008 it was announced that an Australian public affairs chan ...

(formerly A-PAC). The channel was originally a joint venture between British broadcaster

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

(thus making it a spin-off of the

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the he ...

channel in the United Kingdom),

Seven Media Group Seven West Media Limited is an ASX-listed media company and is Australia's largest diversified media business, with an extensive presence in broadcast television, print and online publishing. Seven Group Holdings Ltd (SGH), a company contro ...

, and

Nine Entertainment Co. Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brand ...

, as Australian News Channel Pty Ltd. The company was acquired by News Corp Australia in 2016; with the subsequent sale of Murdoch's remaining shares in Sky UK to

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

, Sky News Australia no longer has any direct ties to its UK counterpart. Especially since the acquisition of the channel by News Corp Australia, Sky News Australia has faced scrutiny from the press over its increased focus on opinion programming, with comparisons drawn to

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

's American news channel

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...

(which carries a similar format), and accusations that the channel's opinion programming has promoted right-wing

misinformation Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. It differs from disinformation, which is ''deliberately'' deceptive. Rumors are information not attributed to any particular source, and so are unreliable and often unverified, but can turn ...

and

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

, and provided a platform for

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

figures.

History

Sky News Channel's parent company,

Australian News Channel Australian News Channel Pty Ltd is an Australian privately held subsidiary of News Corp Australia which owns media properties operating in Australia and New Zealand. The company owns news broadcasting channel Sky News Australia, its sister chan ...

(ANC), was owned equally by

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

(now Sky Limited; which is now a division of

and

, each with a 33% stake in the company from its founding until December 2016, when it was acquired by

. In 2004, Sky News began broadcasting Sky News Active, its on-demand interactive TV news service. In 2008, Sky News launched the

Sky News Business Channel Sky News Business Channel (also known as Sky News Money during primetime and Sky News Real Estate on Saturdays) was an Australian pay television business news channel, available nationally on the Foxtel subscription platform and via mobile throu ...

, and on 20 January 2009, Sky News launched Australian Public Affairs Channel (A-PAC). It began widescreen broadcasting on 17 May 2009. Sky News Australia began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015. A fourth spin-off channel,

Sky News Election Channel Sky News Election Channel was an Australian 24-hour cable and satellite news channel available on the Foxtel platform, operated by Sky News Australia. It launched on 1 May 2016, temporarily replacing A-PAC as a linear channel, dedicated to cov ...

, was launched on 1 May 2016. In 2013, Sky News Australia was granted 20 million in funding from its parent company to be used over three years. In mid-2019, the channel began expanding its digital operations. This included a content partnership with YouTube, Microsoft News, Facebook and

Taboola Taboola is a public advertising company headquartered in New York City. The CEO of Taboola is Adam Singolda, who founded the company in 2007. It provides advertisements such as "Around the Web" and "Recommended For You" boxes at the bottom of man ...

. That led to new, opinion-focused videos being uploaded more frequently and across

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the original News Corporation, it was formed on June 28, 2013, following a ...

platforms, after having previously not uploaded any videos from February 2017 to April 2019. In February 2018, Sky News Australia launched a digital-first brand and content platform called 2600. The online political newsletter is sent out daily with breaking news from Canberra. In November 2018, Sky News terminated the contract of former Liberal Party MP and late-night presenter

Ross Cameron Ross Alexander Cameron (born 14 May 1965) is an Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to October 2004, representing the Division of Parramatta, New South Wales. Between 2013 ...

for using racist language to describe

Chinese people The Chinese people or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by speakers of sta ...

Programming

Sky News programming consists of a mix of live news bulletins, live broadcasts from events (such as Parliament Question Time and selected

press conferences A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental orga ...

), original commentary panel programs and simulcasts of international sister station

UK. Sky News has broadcast every sitting of Question Time from the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

since its launch in 1996. Sky News Australia increased its primetime programming offerings, particularly its political-themed shows, significantly in 2013, when it made more obvious its right-leaning ideology, ahead of the 2013 federal election, cancelling almost entirely the slot's rolling news block ''News Night''. It would then regain most of its runtime in 2014. Sky News Australia rebranded itself on 19 January 2015 as "Sky News Live", dropping the "Sky News National" branding. On weekdays, throughout most of the day, rolling news coverage is presented from one of Sky News Australia's studios. From 5 pm ( AEST/AEDT), commentary programs begin, and continue through primetime until 11 pm AEST/AEDT. Most of these programs are presented by conservative commentators discussing the news of the day, often with a panel of other commentators, and feature a news update at the beginning of the program (and sometimes further updates during the program). Rolling news continues from 11 pm AEST/AEDT before coverage switches to an overnight simulcast of ''Sky News UK'' at 1 am AEST/AEDT. In 2007, Sky News aired local breakaway programming for New Zealand viewers in primetime, filmed at Prime NZ's Auckland studios. One of these programs, ''Prime News – First at 5:30'', was also simulcast to Australian viewers. The debut of ''Sky News NZ Evening News'' was watched by just 1,500 viewers and panned by critics. As of 2015, no local New Zealand programs are produced or broadcast following the loss of a production contract with Prime NZ. However the channel debuted ''New Zealand Agenda'' on 16 June 2018, hosted by New Zealand bureau chief James O'Doherty from

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, focusing on NZ politics.

Current programs

Daytime * ''First Edition'' with Peter Stefanovic (Monday-Friday) * ''Weekend Edition'' (Saturday-Sunday) * ''Sky News Breakfast'' with Jaynie Seal and Samatha Chiari (Only on Sky News Regional & Sky News Weather) (Monday-Friday) * ''AM Agenda'' with Laura Jayes (Monday-Friday) * ''Outsiders'' with Rowan Dean, Rita Panahi, and James Morrow (Sundays) * ''Business Weekend'' with Ross Greenwood (Sundays) * ''NewsDay'' with Tom Connell and Ashleigh Gillon (Monday-Friday) * ''Weekend Live'' (Saturday-Sunday) * ''Afternoon Agenda'' with Kieran Gilbert (Monday-Friday) * ''Business Now'' with Ross Greenwood (Monday-Friday) * ''The Kenny Report'' with Chris Kenny (Monday-Friday) Nighttime * ''Credlin'' with Peta Credlin (Monday-Friday) * ''The Bolt Report'' with Andrew Bolt (Monday-Thursday) * ''Bernardi'' with Cory Bernardi (Fridays) * ''Erin'' with Erin Molan (Sundays) * ''Paul Murray Live'' with Paul Murray (Sunday-Thursday) * ''The Media Show'' with Jack Houghton (Fridays) * ''The U.S Report'' with James Morrow (Fridays) * ''The Rita Panahi Show'' with Rita Panahi (Mondays) * ''Piers Morgan Uncensored'' with Piers Morgan (Tuesday-Friday) * ''The Front Page'' with Jenna Clarke (Monday-Friday) * ''NewsNight'' (Monday-Sunday)

Presenters and reporters

News presenters

* Susanne Latimore * Caroline Marcus *

Jaynie Seal Jaynie Seal (born 18 May 1973) is an Australian television presenter. Seal is currently a weather presenter on Sky News Weather Channel, news presenter on ''Saturday Edition'' and '' Sunday Edition'' on Sky News Live and advertorial presenter ...

Program presenters

* Peter Stefanovic * Jaynie Seal * Samatha Chiari * Laura Jayes * Rowan Dean *

Rita Panahi Rita Panahi (born 3 March 1976) is an American-born Australian right-wing opinion columnist. She works for ''The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT)'', a subsidiary of News Corp Australia and is the host of ''The Rita Panahi Show'' and '' The Friday ...

* James Morrow * Tom Connell * Ashleigh Gillon * Kieran Gilbert * Ross Greenwood * Chris Kenny * Peta Credlin * Andrew Bolt * Cory Bernardi * Erin Molan * Paul Murray * Piers Morgan * Jack Houghton * Jenna Clarke

Reporters

* Kenny Heatley and Gabriella Power – Sydney * Julia Bradley, Holly Edwards-Smith, Simon Love and Georgia Simpson – Melbourne * Trudy McIntosh and Andrea Crothers – Canberra * Clare Todhunter and Adam Walters – Brisbane * Matt Cunningham – Darwin * Jessica Maggio – Wellington, New Zealand

Former presenters and reporters

* John Gatfield 1996–2008 now with Sky Racing. Co-anchored the first bulletin on 19 February 1996 with Juanita Phillips * Samantha Armytage *

Dan Bourchier Dan Bourchier is an Australian journalist and television presenter, best known for his work at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Sky News Australia. He is currently leading the ABC coverage of the Voice to Parliament as ABC Referendum/ ...

* Brooke Corte * Helen Dalley * Georgie Gardner * Amy Greenbank * Stan Grant *

Leigh Hatcher Leigh Hatcher (born 25 August 1955) is a veteran broadcast Australian journalist and author. Hatcher's career highlights include working as the bureau chief for the Macquarie Radio Network in the Canberra Press Gallery. He has also worked at va ...

Patricia Karvelas Patricia Karvelas (born 29 January 1981) is an Australian radio presenter, current affairs journalist and political correspondent. Karvelas currently hosts '' RN Breakfast'' on Radio National. Early life Karvelas was born in Australia to Gre ...

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Repre ...

* Chris Kohler *

David Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator, currently serving as a member in the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and ...

* Prue Lewarne *

Samantha Maiden Samantha Louise Maiden is an Australian political journalist. She is currently political editor for news.com.au, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia. Early life and education Maiden was born in Adelaide. As a student at Adelaide University ...

* John Mangos * Sharon McKenzie *

Melanie McLaughlin Melanie Louise McLaughlin (born September 1979) is an Australian sport presenter for the Seven Network. McLaughlin previously worked for Fox Sports where she hosted association football shows including ''Kick Off'', Indian Super League and ' ...

* Jim Middleton * Kelly Nestor *

Janine Perrett Janine Perrett is an Australian journalist and commentator who has worked across newspapers, radio and television for four decades. She currently works for ABC TV after working as a television presenter for Sky News Australia, until December 20 ...

* Juanita Phillips * Cameron Price * Chris Roe * Celina Edmonds * Vanessa Grimm * Nina Stevens * Amber Sherlock * David Speers * Greg Thomson *

Karen Tso Karen Tso (born 13 September 1977) is an Australian television journalist and anchor at CNBC Europe. Tso began her career as a general news reporter for the AAP after graduating with a commerce degree from Griffith University in Queensland. S ...

Jacinta Tynan Jacinta Tynan (born 8 August 1969) is an Australian news presenter and journalist. Tynan has previously been a news presenter on Sky News Australia Career She started her career as a snow reporter for Thredbo before working as a reporter ...

Peter van Onselen Peter van Onselen is an Australian political academic, author, political journalist and commentator. He is a contributing editor at '' The Australian'' newspaper. Between 2010 and 2017, he hosted several programs at Sky News Australia. Since De ...

* Terry Willesee * Michael Willesee, Jr. * Ahron Young

Bureaus

Sky News Australia has a bureau in every capital city in Australia, completing this with the opening of its

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

studio in 2013. In 2016, it opened a bureau in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, making it the first non-capital city bureau. In 2017, a Gold Coast bureau was opened marking the third non-capital city studio after Cairns and

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

. The base of Sky News Australia is in the Sydney suburb of

Macquarie Park Macquarie Park () is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Park is located 13 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Ryde ...

, from which the majority of its news and programming is broadcast. Its Melbourne studio was upgraded in 2014, allowing it to be used as a secondary broadcast studio. ''Hinch Live'' became the first regular program to be broadcast from Melbourne. The third major bureau is in

Parliament House, Canberra Parliament House, also referred to as Capital Hill or simply Parliament, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and the seat of the legislative branch of the Australian Government. Located in Canberra, the Parliament building is ...

, opened in 2000. Lyndal Curtis became Bureau Chief of in October 2015. Additionally, Sky News has a small office in the Channel Seven building in

Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

, which includes a small street-level single camera studio which looks onto

Elizabeth Street, Sydney Elizabeth Street is a major street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The street continues south of the central business district (CBD), through the inner city suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern and Waterlo ...

. Internationally, Sky News's only foreign bureau is in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

, New Zealand, opened in 2015.

Resources

Apart from its own resources, Sky News Australia uses the news resources of its former parent companies ''

Seven News ''7NEWS'' is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins ar ...

'', ''

Nine News ''Nine News'' (stylised ''9News'') is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, ...

'' and

UK, as well as sister network

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...

. It signed a four-year partnership deal with

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...

, commencing on 1 January 2011, and additionally has agreements with

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

China, ABC America, CBS,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

, APTN,

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

, Dow Jones and

Newshub ''Newshub'' (stylised as ''Newshub.'') is a New Zealand news service that airs on the television channels Three and Eden, as well as on digital platforms. It formerly operated across radio stations run by MediaWorks Radio until December 2021 ...

. Sky News UK, ABC and CBS were founding international partners of Sky News Australia.

Content

In 2017, Denis Muller, a senior research fellow at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

's Centre for Advancing Journalism, described the channel as having a "split personality," running straight news bulletins and reporting during the day with professional and independent journalists and presenters, while moving towards "right-leaning

punditry A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowle ...

" in prime time. In February 2021, Muller, commenting on former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's statement that Sky News was following a pattern laid down by

, described the nighttime programming of Sky News as including "the unconstrained peddling of extreme right-wing propaganda, lies,

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the ...

, crude distortion of fact and baseless assertions."

Political alignment and views

Sky News Australia is considered by commentators to have a conservative, right-wing bias, with frequent criticism of Australia's main progressive political parties,

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

and the Greens. Presenter Paul Murray has stated that "Sky News at night is a Liberal echo chamber". Drawing a strong comparison to Fox News, the network began moving towards panel-based programming from 2010, with most of its highest profile prime time commentators being conservative. Hosts

Andrew Bolt Andrew Bolt (born 26 September 1959) is an Australian right-wing social and political commentator. He has worked at the News Corp-owned newspaper company The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT) for many years, for both '' The Herald'' and its succ ...

and Paul Murray have been compared to Fox News presenters Bill O'Reilly and

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of '' The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commen ...

respectively. As many of the channel's primetime contributors are conservatives - many with clear career links to the Liberal Party - the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

and its figureheads Victorian premier

Daniel Andrews Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian politician serving as the 48th and current premier of Victoria since December 2014. He has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since December ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

premier

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

n premier

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party. McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...

are frequently critiqued whilst the policies of the Liberal and National parties of Australia are often endorsed and promoted. During the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in the year 2020, some Sky News commentators referred to Andrews as a 'dictator' and a 'chairman', drawing a comparison to

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

regimes when criticising Andrews' frequent use of pandemic lockdowns and public health orders. Sky News Australia has been a frequent critic of US President Joe Biden ever since he took office on 20 January 2021. Some reporters such as Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones have frequently commented about Biden's mental health, claiming it was declining and that Biden is unfit to be the President.

Misinformation and conspiracy theories

On 13 December 2020, Rowan Dean promoted the Great Reset conspiracy theory on Sky News Australia, claiming that "This Great Reset is as serious and dangerous a threat to our prosperity – to your prosperity and your freedom – as we have faced in decades". As of February 2021,

American far-right In United States politics, the radical right is a political preference that leans towards extreme conservatism, white supremacism, or other right-wing to far-right ideologies in a hierarchical structure paired with conspiratorial rhetoric alongs ...

conspiracy theorist

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American far-right and alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcas ...

uses segments from Sky News Australia to back up his claims. In July 2021, Alan Jones and Craig Kelly falsely claimed that United Kingdom data proved that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 would increase the likelihood of death due to COVID-19. The claim originated in '' The Daily Exposé'', a British website known for promoting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

and anti-vaccine misinformation. ''The Daily Exposé'''s claim was debunked by the BBC,

Full Fact Full Fact is a British charity, based in London, which checks and corrects facts reported in the news as well as claims which circulate on social media. History and structure Full Fact was founded in 2009 by businessman Michael Samuel, the c ...

and

. Sky News Australia subsequently removed the broadcast and issued a correction on its website. On 1 August 2021, YouTube barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content onto their channel for a week for breaking YouTube's rules on posting videos containing COVID-19 misinformation. Upon the channel's return to the platform, Sky News Australia published a piece titled "Uncancelled: Sky News Australia Set Free" wherein Digital Editor Jack Houghton claimed the channel's temporary banning was the result of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...

and left-wing media attempting to stifle free speech. A 2022 analysis by the

Institute for Strategic Dialogue The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) is a think tank founded in 2006 by Sasha Havlicek and George Weidenfeld that specialises in research and policy advice on hate, extremism, and disinformation. It is headquartered in London, United Kin ...

, a British think tank, found that Sky News Australia was a major source for climate change misinformation. Sky News Australia rejected the findings of the analysis, saying that they would "continue to encourage

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...

" on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Reception

Ratings

Largely, Sky News struggles to garner any significant viewership figures and is largely confined to a core group of around 50,000 nightly primetime viewers across their cable and free-to-air platforms. Thus, the channel rates extremely poorly compared to other news networks such as

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...

and broadcast networks. The highest rating broadcast on Sky News Australia was an episode of ''Paul Murray Live'' on 26 June 2013 (following the 2013 Labor leadership spill), averaging 197,000 viewers across a special two-hour broadcast. The highest audience share Sky News Australia has achieved was during coverage of the 2009 Victorian bushfires. On 15 December 2014 during the Sydney Lindt café siege, coverage of the unfolding incident took 16 of the 20 most watched programs on the Foxtel platform. The 7 pm (

AEST Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30), and Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00). Time is regulated by the individual state ...

) hour was the highest rated at 109,000 viewers. Sky News achieved a day time share of 2.6% (behind ABC News 24's 3.8%) and a primetime share of 1.5% (behind ABC News 24's 2.5%). Sky News Live rated 56,000 viewers for early evening coverage of the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a ...

, and 83,000 viewers for later coverage, beaten by

ABC News 24 ABC News (formerly ABC News 24; also referred to as the ABC News channel) is an Australian 24-hour news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the former ABC HD channel (which simulcast AB ...

's coverage which was watched by 195,000 viewers nationally. For its coverage of the failed Liberal leadership spill on 9 February 2015 between 9 am and 10 am, Sky News Live was the second most watched subscription channel and the coverage was the third most watched program of the day with 69,000 viewers. Sky News Live reached a total audience of 700,000 viewers on 14 September 2015 (including simulcast on Sky News Business) during the 2015 Liberal leadership spill. It was the most watched subscription television channel for the evening and outrated all free-to-air television channels between 11 pm and midnight AEST. The highest rated hour of coverage was from 10pm, achieving 190,000 viewers, the second highest ratings since the 2013 Labor Party spill. A March 2016 article in '' The Guardian Australia'' reported Sky News averages 12,000 national viewers between 6 pm and midnight, with a peak of 18,000 between 8 pm and 10 pm, although the report did not specify what days or dates this average refers to. During the 2016 federal election, Sky News averaged 96,000 viewers, an increase of 46% from the 2013 election. In July 2018, Sky News claimed to have achieved its highest ratings on record, with viewership up 9% overall and its weeknight primetime (6pm-11pm) viewership 25% higher on the same period last year, according to

OzTAM OzTAM is an Australian audience measurement research firm that collects and markets television ratings data. It is jointly owned by the Seven Network, the Nine Network and Network Ten, and is the official source of television ratings data for al ...

figures. In August 2018, coverage of the

Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill, 2018 Leadership spills of the federal parliamentary leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia were held on 21 and 24 August 2018 and were called by the incumbent leader of the party, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. It has been nicknamed "spill ...

saw Sky News gain its highest Tuesday primetime audience ever with a 4.2% audience share. '' Speers'', '' Credlin'' and '' Jones & Co'' all had their highest-rated episodes on record.

Criticism

In August 2018, Sky News was heavily criticised for providing a platform to

Blair Cottrell Blair Cottrell (born November 1989) is an Australian far-right extremist, often described as a neo-Nazi. He is the former chairman and founding member of the United Patriots Front (UPF) and the Lads Society. He has been convicted of seve ...

, leader of the

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

organisation

United Patriots Front The United Patriots Front (UPF) was an Australian far-right extremist group that opposed immigration, multiculturalism and the religion of Islam. Formed in 2015, the group has been largely dormant since their Facebook page was deleted fo ...

in a one-on-one discussion about immigration on ''The Adam Giles Show''. Sky News presenters, including Laura Jayes and David Speers, were among those critical (both on-air and off-air) of his appearance on the program due to the fact that he has expressed admiration for

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

and claimed to have manipulated women "using violence and terror." Sky News commentator and former Labor Party minister Craig Emerson resigned in protest after the interview was broadcast, stating that "My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interred in a German POW camp", and that the decision to give Cottrell a platform on Sky News was "another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country". The activist group Sleeping Giants, Sleeping Giants Oz called on advertisers to pull advertising campaigns off Sky News in the wake of the channel's interview with Cottrell. In the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019, Sky News Australia was temporarily removed from Sky New Zealand's satellite platform, amid concerns over how the channel's coverage could potentially affect the investigation into the attack; Fox Sports News was added to the platform as a replacement. Sky News Australia was restored to Sky New Zealand on 21 March, six days after the attack.

Accolades

Broadcast

Sky News began broadcasting in widescreen, along with its sister channels on 17 May 2009. Sky News Australia only provides closed captioning between 4 pm and 5 pm (AEST/AEDT) each day. Sky News began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015.

Other services

Sky News Multiview

With the roll-out of Foxtel Digital, Sky News Australia launched the ''Sky News Active'' interactive news service based on the Sky News UK service with the same name. The service offered a choice of eight news screens, some with original content not seen on the main channel they vary depending on the days news or events and include the latest news, business, sport, showbiz and weather in text. Other features included interactive polling and the latest news headlines via text. On 15 November 2009 Sky News active re-launched with a new look as well as 5 additional local screens (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide

Sky News Now

Sky News Now was a mobile service available on Vodafone, Telstra and Hutchison 3G, 3. It offered a wide variety of news in both video and text. As of 2015, the service was no longer available.

Sky News Alerts

Sky News Alerts is a SMS and Multimedia Messaging Service, MMS breaking news service available on all mobile phones inside Australia. Breaking news alerts are sent to a subscriber via SMS or MMS at a cost per message.

Qantas

In November 2014, Sky News Australia was contracted to provide Qantas with in-flight news bulletins replacing a longstanding contract with the Nine Network.

Podcasting

Sky News offers various programs via podcast including First Business, Market Day, Showbiz, Agenda, Australian News Week, and Prime Television, Prime News New Zealand.

Sky News Regional

Sky News Regional (formerly Sky News on WIN) is a free-to-air version of Sky News Australia, which was launched on 2 September 2018. The channel features Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News programming, as well as the original morning newscast ''Sky News Breakfast''. The channel was originally established as part of a partnership with

. In 2021, WIN's contracts with both Network 10 and Sky News expired; with WIN returning to its previous Nine Network affiliation on 1 July 2021, and Sky News's contract expiring on 1 August 2021 (the allotments were, in turn, used for 9Life). Sky News reached a new agreement with

to distribute the channel, now known as Sky News Regional. In its first two weeks on the air, the channel averaged 10,000 viewers in primetime and 4,000 viewers in daytime, with ''Richo (TV program), Richo'' the highest rated program at 24,000 viewers. The channel is available on digital channel 56 across Southern Cross Austereo's regional markets in TNQ, Regional QLD, CTC (TV station), Southern NSW & ACT and GLV/BCV, Regional VIC, and on WIN digital channel 53 in NRN, Northern NSW & Gold Coast, MTN (TV station), Griffith and MGS/LRS, South East SA. It is not available in SGS/SCN, Broken Hill, SGS/SCN, Spencer Gulf, TDT (TV station), Tasmania, MDV (TV station), Mildura, DTD (TV station), Darwin, CDT (TV station), Remote & Central Australia and West Digital Television, Regional WA. Mildura, Tasmania, and Regional Western Australia carried this channel as Sky News on WIN on the WIN network until August 2021 when it switched to 9Life’s feed. The channel was previously on WIN digital channels 83 and 85, prior to the rebrand as Sky News Regional on 1 August 2021.

References

External links

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Sky News Regional schedule
{{Television news in Australia Sky News Australia, 24-hour television news channels in Australia Television channels and stations established in 1996 English-language television stations in Australia Television networks in Australia Podcasting companies Conservatism in Australia Conservative media