Victoria Has Removed Sky News From Train Station Platforms, And People Want NSW To Follow Suit
"Hatred and racism have no place on our screens."
Sky News’s bad week just keeps rolling on, with Victorian Transport Minister Jacinta Allan announcing this morning that she’s directed Melbourne’s Metro Trains to stop playing the station on platform screens at the city’s train stations.
In a tweet earlier today, Allan justified the decision by saying “hatred and racism have no place on our screens or in our community”, and yeah, no shit. After all, Sky News did bring this on themselves when they invited a neo-Nazi for an interview.
I’ve directed @MetroTrains to remove @skynewsaustralia from all CBD station screens. Hatred and racism have no place on our screens or in our community. #springst
— Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) August 8, 2018
The Metro Trains decision follows a number of pretty high-profile brands cutting ties with Sky earlier this week. So far, American Express, Huggies and Specsavers have all pulled their advertising from Sky News, saying the interview with Blair Cottrell didn’t align with their values.
Advocacy group Sleeping Giants Oz is currently pushing for other brands to follow suit, pointing out that Nazism really shouldn’t align with any brand’s values.
We wanted to follow up with you and let you know that on Monday, we also pulled all advertising from Sky News. The interview with this guest did not align with our values relating to diversity. Thank you.
— Huggies® (@Huggies) August 7, 2018
Blair Cottrell, the neo-Nazi interviewee who kicked off this mess, has also been suspended by Twitter after tweeting some pretty horrendous stuff about raping a journalist.
Sky News currently plays on train platform screens in other states, including NSW and WA, and following the Victoria’s decision people are calling for other transport ministers to follow suit.
@Transperth Why does Transperth show SkyNews? This week Sky hosted a #DV offender convicted of arson, aggravated burglary, stalking & making threats to kill; calling him an activist. DV victims don’t need to be subjected to this on their commute. @SkyNewsAust @slpng_giants_oz pic.twitter.com/iLfCyFmPwn
— LadyBatGirlKimberley (@earthma23) August 8, 2018
Junkee has contacted NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance to ask whether Sydney Trains will similarly be canning Sky. We’ll update this post if he gets back to us.