Very sad news to report. Bob Friend, the veteran Sky News presenter, who retired in 2003, has died today at the age of 70. He had been suffering from Cancer. Bob was with Sky News right from the start and was one of the most respected reporter/presenters in the business. He had a wicked sense of humour and his on screen banter with Vivien Creegor and Anna Botting became cult viewing. I did a spot with him on an ITV regional programme about new media not that long ago and he delighted in being very much from the 'old school' of journalism.
Bob also made cameo appearances in Mission Impossible and Independence Day, two of my favourite films! I am sure his colleagues at Sky News are doing many on screen tributes to Bob today. He certainly earned them.
UPDATE: Sky's tribute to Bob is HERE. Jon Craig TOO.
18 comments:
Very, very sad news. Bob was an absolute legend. Condolonces to all at Sky.
One of the better journos. RIP.
A gentleman with a great sense of humour. I was interviewed in the studio by Bob and he got my name wrong, he never flinched but carried on calling me by that name.
I did a few more over the years with him and always called me by that name! Lovely fellow.
Condolences to his wife and family, his friends and former colleagues at Sky. A genuine man a great journalist.
Very sad news indeed. He was an outstanding reporter and presenter who knew his stuff and could engage with an audience. He was the sort of man people would think would always be around.
What a great man, he'll be very sadly missed.
Sad, bad, news.
But what is the 'new school' of journalism, then?
Never saw him on Sky, but remember his missives from the Middle East,
Friend by name, Friend in nature.
RIP
What ever happened to Scott Chisholm?
He WAS Roger Melly
Sad indeed. One of the last of the old school, professional and human to his finger tips.
Sad.
I'm very sad to hear that. I freelanced at Sky News in the mid 90s, and he was a lovely guy - no airs and graces (unlike some newsreaders), just an all round nice guy...and top class operator! He'll be sadly missed.
Very sad indeed. I think my first encounter with him was actually watching Independence Day!
I remember him as something of a rare thing these days - a newsreader who, and sorry to use a Brownie, 'got on with the job'. Good, solid, dependable newsreading, injected with the odd bit of personality when required. A far cry from these preening girls the BBC seem to employ these days.
raven - yes, I didn't want to use the phrase 'autocutie' in this thread, but one has to recognise the 'times they are a'changing'
It does make me wonder, though, what he was doing working for Citizen Murdoch, but I guess we all have to make a living somehow..
@ Raven
'Preening girls' - of both sexes
Scott Chisholm was a great interviewer. He left sky after a bit of a sexist comment! but then went to local radio. I do not know where he is now. Perhaps back in Aussie land or in China. A good journalist.
Lol, Unsworth. Quite.
The gap he left is all-too evident - Sky News is often hilariously bad at the moment. Their coverage of the crisis has been poor.
There's a serious point here, which is the general and very marked decline in quality across the news channels. The BBC pack seem in many cases barely able to understand simple English and to ask an intelligent and pertinent question which doesn't come out of the book of the already established or merely banal. There is also an excessive reliance at the BBC on one or two journalists (Robert Preston must be shattered from all his thousands of appearances) - makes you wonder where all the license payers money is going, can they really not afford more than one competent business journalist?
Meanwhile, over at Sky, they seem to have almost given up, relying on trite newsettes on football and celeb culture a-la GMTV with precious little in between. The front desk presenters often seem unable to recall what day it is or what the item is about. The only talking heads are from the Murdoch stable of Sun, Times and Fox. Deplorable pap for the brainless footie fan just back from the pub.
CNN is no better, having descended from a once proud channel into a nauseating stream of endlessly-regurgitated items (some of them last for weeks - you can see the same boring video clip about endangerered fish in the amazon or whatever about 3000 times a day - and tune back a year later and they are still showing it) and faux-news stories consisting of talking heads from the usual extremist suspects in the "republican" and "democratic" "parties" of the US.
And the mediocrats are puzzled why people are turning to blogs.
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