Sky News

On election night in October 1974, the BBC’s anchorman, Alastair Burnet, announced a “welcome new addition” to the presenting team, Sue Lawley.

At least part of the reason for her welcome was that she was the first woman to play an on-screen role in a British election results studio.

Things have moved on, if not at breakneck speed. Emily Maitlis was again booked to be on the BBC’s set on 8 June. And, for the first time, a woman, Mishal Husain, was to play the Robin Day/Jeremy Paxman inquisitor role.

On ITV, Julie Etchingham was due to anchor – but only on day two.

After weeks behind the scenes at Sky News, picking the brains of the team who had just seven weeks to put together an election night show "bigger and better" than any before (so said Sky News boss John Ryley), the RTS spent the night at Sky News HQ to give you the inside track of what is going on off-camera at the broadcaster's biggest show of the year.

The weeks of meticulous planning and preparation are over. Tonight Sky is live in around 350 locations across the country to cover the General Election 2017. 

Graphics is "one of the most fun jobs you could possibly imagine" during election season, Sky News' Head of Design Chyaz Buffett told us, as he and Graphics Editor Charlotte Bingham prepare for one of the biggest nights in news broadcasting.

But just how important is graphics for Sky News' election coverage?

The graphics team talk about their big plans for election night and how their work fits into the news broadcast. 

Bromley is Sky News’ Editor for On-Screen Information, the man responsible for ensuring the accuracy of all the information that viewers see on screen.

His job on election night, he says, is to ensure that “anyone turning on Sky News at any point in the [election show] will find out instantly the state of play. I have always worked on the basis that, if we have information in the building and we can share it, why wouldn’t you do so?”

“The information -the words and the numbers – is what I am concentrating on,” he explains.

In the next 24 hours, the winners and losers of the General Election 2017 will be revealed, but for now all we can do is wait.

Paul Bromley, Sky News’ Editor of On-Screen Information is a stalwart of the overnight coverage, and shares his tips for all those poll-watchers and politics fans who are planning on following the coverage through the night.

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.