A letter from David Rhodes, Sky News

As we’ve begun 2024 with a number of announcements here at Sky News, I want to thank you for your continued support of our journalism.

Many people we serve are anxious this year as more than half the world’s population goes to vote, the wars that defined 2023 grind on, while climate and cost-of-living crises haven’t abated.

Robust reporting has always been vital for Sky News, but the technology context is making it more so.  We see the most-immediate impact of Artificial Intelligence as de-valuing what’s already known—while raising substantially the value of what’s not yet known.  Actual journalism will be more important in 2024 because it’s about revealing the unknown.  Less important every day: organising and regurgitating what’s already out there.

To stay on the front foot, at Sky News we will be emphasizing that actual journalism and leaning into the discussion and deployment of new technologies.  We see these as essential to our reporting, our audience, and our commercial proposition.

On those elections: leading off our first Sunday Morning program of the new year from studios under renovation in Westminster, we showed the map of more than 70 countries representing 4 billion people around the world who go to the polls this year.

It is hard to remember a time with more potential ramifications globally, with rising geopolitical tension both the backdrop and the potential outcome of this mammoth democratic exercise.  New programming and people across our digital and television proposition are ready to witness and explain it all.

Some newsmakers want an easy venue—a cozy time, perhaps with the friendliest outlet they can find.   At Sky News, we’re proud of our independence and continue to use that in challenging ways—to reveal what’s really going on.

The international outlook in 2024 is full of risk and uncertainty.

As our world has changed, there are now a greater number of key players shaping geopolitics than ever before.  That hasn’t stabilised the hotspots we cover—and whole wars that have escaped wider scrutiny.

While many are pulling back, Sky News is continuing to invest in award-winning foreign reporting.  We’re committed to going to the heart of the story.   From civil war in the jungles of Myanmar to man-made floods on the coast of Libya, our correspondents are on the ground with live reports and video, getting the truth.

In 2023, far too many reporters around the world have faced restrictions on their work, detention, injury, and far too many have tragically lost their lives.  This year we will increase our effort on behalf of professional organisations fighting these injustices globally.

Our colleagues' ability to work freely and effectively is essential to build trust in journalism and news media in general.

This year will challenge us all, but we enter it in a very energetic position.

We wish you all the best for 2024 and look forward to seeing you soon. 

Regards, 

David Rhodes