Kieran Gilbert named Sky News’ first chief news anchor
Sky News’ Kieran Gilbert has been named the first chief news anchor for the news channel, with the role commencing in November.
The newly created position will see Gilbert lead the Sky News Canberra bureau, anchor major news and special events and spearhead the channel’s political coverage.
Gilbert will lead Sky News’ reporting in 2020
Gilbert will front Sky News’ election coverage, host leaders’ debates and the Sky News People’s Forum events, as well as anchoring a new political program for 2020. More details will be announced regarding the new show soon.
Gilbert has been with Sky News since 2002, most recently as chief political reporter. He steps into the new role as the face of the channel as it prepares to lose David Speers to the ABC.
Paul Whittaker, chief executive of Sky News said: “Kieran Gilbert is an outstanding political reporter and as he celebrates an impressive seventeen years at the channel, I am delighted that he becomes our first Chief News Anchor. We have ambitious plans for the year ahead and Kieran will be at the forefront of Sky News programming. This announcement is the beginning of a number of initiatives we have coming soon.”
Gilbert said: “I am a proud member of the Sky News family and have been for a long time. I am honoured to take on this leadership role of our super talented political team in Canberra. As Chief News Anchor, I will not only cover politics, but big news and international stories, such as covering the upcoming Olympic Games in 2020 and the US Election.”
Gilbert returns to Sky News in the role of Chief News Anchor in November after hosting the Rugby World Cup for Fox Sports.
LETTER TO KIERAN GILBERT SKY NEWS 30/10/19
Dear Kieran
In your ad/promo for your elevation to being First News Chief Presenter, you have stooped to a terrible ethical low.
In your interview clip with Fraser Anning (included in the promo), you used the exact words “You talk about immigration as the final solution. It is a disgrace!”
Firstly, Fraser Anning did not even reference “The Final Solution”, the term used euphemistically to describe the Nazi Holocaust. To infer that connection is an act of moral posturing on your part. To expose the hypocrisy of your action, I simply state that I have recently found the final solution to my termite problem, or maybe my flat tyre.
By intentionally conflating Anning’s innocent use of the phrase taken totally out of context by yourself, you intentionally threw a filthy ad hominem attack at Fraser Anning. This type of smear sits more in the strategy book of the Left wing socialists rather than what I would want to hear from a SKY Network presenter, whom I would hope might display respectful ethics and objective questioning.
I have met Fraser Anning and found him to be a thoroughly decent Aussie man with great patriotism, and a fine sense of fairness in touch with mainstream Australia. The commonly-used slur that he has links to far-right extremism arise because he may have met and listened to such citizens. The man I know is not at all an extremist, in fact is a very decent Aussie man.
Your opportunism in deploring him in your promo reflects that you do not know him but have tried to profit from pillorying him unfairly.
Brad Ahern
bradahern@bigpond.com