Ok, not wanting to turn this into a 'I hate Sky Sports News' hate thread (but it might), I just wanted people's opinions on it as a channel itself, i.e, what it has done for Sports 'news' coverage and if anyone actually thinks it's any good (I've yet to meet anyone who does).
I'm going to base this purely on football reporting (which lets face it. they'd be fucked without), because for ME, it's becoming more and more insidious. And I'm actually finding myself thinking it's become a mouthpiece for the rich clubs of the country and not much else.
Because they report rumour as FACT, and because they have unknown sources for their scoops (Sky Sports understands) a lot of their reporting is coming across as shit stirring or just blatant tapping up of players. I know, I know, 'no shit Paul'...
Well known Sky whore, Harry Redknapp was on the other day, being interviewed by that prize c*nt Jim White (crawling up his arse and starting every sentence with 'Harry') where he just flat out asked him which players he liked, or would like, and to which Redknapp then did his usual 'Oh, so and so is great, triffic player' and I just sat there thinking 'is this not just blatant tapping up?'
Aside from them turning the first day back in training, a day that usually passes by without fuss, of premier league clubs, into a MASSIVE news story, and the gimp with the touchscreen monitor showing us facts and figures and repeating over and over that Chelsea want Modric, it seems to have turned into a channel for Man Utd, Chelsea and City, putting positive spins on anything they do, highlighting minor issues at the clubs and just off-hand reports of anything else. The Modric thing they keep repeating over and over, as if doing so will help Chelsea get him.
E.g. Reporting we'd had a bid for Downing turned down. If this was Man U or Chelsea, they'd have cut to a report about it. Not us. They simply said 'bid turned down' and moved on to the next story.
So is it just me entering Andy@Allerton levels of paranoia? (sorry Andy). Or is it becoming more and more a mouthpiece for rich clubs, i.e. Chelsea and City, and a propaganda channel for all things relating to them and Utd?
Or is it just what it is, a shit channel reporting rumour as fact and courting those clubs simply because they are where the money, scandal and 'big stories' are, even if they have no genuine substance? And if it IS, what the fuck has happened to Sports reporting?
Me personal opinion, is I fucking hate it as a channel. Except for Natalie Sawyer. AND, before anyone says 'well stop watching it' I don't, but it does get the odd airing.