Commentator quits SKY News, politicians consider boycott after interview backlash
Commentators & guests react, sponsors being targeted following interview with extremist.
- Published by David Knox
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Former Labor Minister Craig Emerson has quit SKY News after United Patriots Front leader Blair Cottrell appeared on The Adam Giles Show.
“My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interred in a German POW camp. The decision to put Cottrell on Sky News was “another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country”, he wrote on Twitter.
I have advised @SkyNewsAust that I have quit as a Sky commentator. My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interred in a German POW camp. The decision to allow Neo-Nazi Blair Cotterell onto the channel was another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country.
— Craig Emerson (@DrCraigEmerson) August 6, 2018
I will refuse all offers to go on Sky until it gives a full apology and clear commitment to never again air this man’s hateful views. I hope my Greens colleagues, and all MPs who care about decency, will join me. pic.twitter.com/JHDVSL240S
— David Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeMLC) August 5, 2018
Other politicians are reportedly planning to boycott the channel and SKY News advertisers are being targeted on social media.
SKY News journalists David Speers and Laura Jayes criticised their own network for giving him airtime.
SKY News Director Greg Byrnes said on social media, “It was wrong to have Blair Cottrell on SKY News Australia. His views do not reflect ours. The interview has been removed from repeat timeslots and online platforms.”
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- Tagged with Sky News, The Adam Giles Show
3 Responses
Well this is interesting, Sky News usually gets more pollies than the ABC which probably tells us that they expect a more gentle interview from hosts who lean more to their side of politics. Unfortunately Sky News has become a soap box for divisiveness in recent years and I’m sure that viewers will know which journalists / commentators are the most prominent political agitators.
That could be their slogan: “More politicians than the ABC. Fewer viewers than Shaun The Sheep.”
The Adam Giles show is still available through the IQ 24 hour back record on the Foxtel EPG when I checked this morning and was able to be downloaded.