Sky News

Evans oversees all of the social media platforms for Sky News and manages the channel's relationship with those platforms - an exciting position to have in the midst of an impromptu election period. 

There is so much online engagement surrounding the election, how much does social media represent the voting public and how can Sky get the facts across in a way that will interest people? 

We spoke to Evans about how people engage online during an election, how Sky News use social media for such events, and what they have in store for election night.

That message rings out again when I talk to Nick Phipps. Phipps is the Election Night Editor of Sky News’ 2017 Election results show – a position he first held in 2014 for the Scottish Referendum, and then at every major national vote since.

His turn in the hot seat came about because he asked for it.

“I spoke to [Head of Sky News] John Ryley,” he recalls, and asked the Sky boss for the opportunity. “He very kindly said OK.”

The project puts the broadcaster live at 250 declarations across the country, from Witney to the Western Isles, and from Hastings to Hartlepool.

Sky 250 builds on Sky’s world record-breaking coverage of the 2015 election, which put them at 150 declarations. That project took over a year to organise, this time they had just seven weeks to do it all again – but bigger.

Overseeing the organisation of the Sky 250 project is Valerie Hamill, who has been tasked with recruiting over 300 personnel, organising the tech and liaising with 150 count locations.

The broadcaster has released a statement today claiming that “since early in the election campaign, Sky News has not been getting live interviews on election issues with Conservative ministers. Also we weren’t initially invited to follow the leader’s tour,” a Sky spokesperson claimed.

The RTS understand that Sky News was offered places on Theresa May’s campaign bus on Tuesday 16^th May – four days after it was initially launched. However access to the Prime Minister and her team is still being denied.

Peter Lowe is the Managing Editor of Sky News, and the man responsible for ensuring that the broadcaster meets its commitments to impartiality and unbiased reporting - something broadcasters are legally required to do under the Communications Act 2003. 

News reporting, both in and outside of election season, must be fair and unbiased, it must show 'due impartiality', which Peter explains below, and 'due accuracy', meaning that the accuracy needed must be satisfactory and appropriate to the content. 

The special programme, to be broadcast on Monday 29^th May, has been announced as part of Sky’s coverage of the upcoming General Election, and will feature the first leader interviews of the campaign in front of a live audience.  

In the 90-minute programme, Islam will begin with an audience Q&A before Paxman steps in to interview the respective party leader, before the process is repeated with the other party leader. .

The first version of the app, available for anyone to download for free, showcases a range of 360 videos from Sky and their partners.

Some transport viewers inside popular films, such as Suicide Squad and The Martian, while others invite viewers behind the scenes of iconic sports events such as Formula One and the Tour De France. A Sky News documentary titled Calais: The Jungle, will take viewers to the centre of the refugee crisis.

Sky has also announced two new virtual reality experiences which will become available via the app in the future.

Watch extended highlights from the award ceremony.