Jonathan Levy has been appointed managing director and govt editor at Sky News – and David Rhodes govt chairman of the Sky News Group with total accountability for its information providers throughout EMEA.
It follows an announcement in December by John Ryley that he can be stepping down as head of Sky News after 17 years.
Mr Levy has been director of newsgathering and operations since 2011 and head of politics earlier than that.
In his politics function, Mr Levy efficiently negotiated Britain’s first televised prime ministerial debates.
He stated: “It’s the best privilege to guide Sky News’ journalism when there’s such an pressing want for neutral and impartial reporting and evaluation.
“There is an exceptional team of journalists here with a burning passion for hard-hitting visual storytelling. With investment in our journalism and audiences growing on all our platforms , there’s never been a better time for news at Sky.”
Mr Rhodes stated: “It is a great honour to be appointed to lead the Sky News Group. Throughout my career I’ve admired Sky’s commitment to accurate, impartial, high-quality journalism. Together we will bring this important news coverage to audiences around the UK, Europe, and the wider world.”
Dana Strong, CEO of Sky Group, stated: “Together with their teams, David and Jonathan will continue to uphold Sky News’ reputation for accuracy, impartiality and independence, remaining a leader in innovative production and original journalism.
“David has a wealth of business expertise, strategic perception, digital acumen and, critically, has run massive, worldwide information organisations.
“Jonathan is a highly experienced news executive with first-class judgement and a successful track record of editorial delivery at Sky who will now steer Sky News UK’s journalism into the future.”
Paying tribute to Mr Ryley, she added that he has taken Sky News’ affect to “new levels” and his “lifelong commitment to accurate, original, impartial journalism” might be his “lasting legacy”.
Mr Ryley has been at Sky for 28 years, becoming a member of as an output editor in 1995 following stints on the BBC and ITV News. In 2000 he was made govt editor earlier than turning into head of stories six years later.
He was awarded an Outstanding Contribution Award by the Royal Television Society (RTS) in 2021, which stated he had “effected genuine change in our industry”.
“His style is innovative, idiosyncratic. His integrity, influence and authority colossal,” it added.
His management oversaw what he stated was “an ongoing saga of events and characters”.
He stated it included “historic tipping points”, together with the 2008 monetary crash, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the marketing campaign for the primary Leaders’ debate, a summer season of UK riots, the Arab Spring, the demise of Princess Diana, Sept. 11, the rise of Isis, the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan assaults, the European migrant disaster, 4 UK General Elections in 9 years, one hung parliament, two referendums, Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, a COVID pandemic, the homicide of George Floyd, the Taliban’s seize of Kabul, Russia’s invasion of a sovereign state, the demise of Queen Elizabeth II and now a biting financial disaster and political turmoil with three Prime Ministers in seven months.
Source: information.sky.com”