Sky News has promoted three journalists to newly created roles which it says prove its commitment to foreign news, home affairs and environmental issues.
The broadcaster has undergone numerous changes, including axing 17 editorial jobs, following a less-than-successful relaunch last September.
A Sky spokeswoman told Press Gazette: “We have always worked on the basis of having certain specialisms like health, politics and crime, but what we are doing is adding to them so we have more specialists in various fields.” Europe correspondent Rachel Amatt has been made foreign affairs correspondent.
Amatt joined the channel in 2000 and was previously with GMTV.
Sky News reporter Lisa Holland has been made foreign affairs correspondent.
She joined Sky News from the BBC in March 2001 and previously worked in regional TV for the BBC. She began her career on the Evening Argus in Brighton.
New environment correspondent Robert Nisbet joined Sky News in February 2005 and previously spent 11 years at the BBC where his jobs included newsreader for Radio 1, chief reporter on BBC Three’s Liquid News and most recently BBC Olympics correspondent.
Sky News’s acting executive editor, Chris Birkett, said: “If you stand back and look at the news landscape there are areas where we should reflect the growing importance of stories.” Birkett said Sky wanted to “beef up” the foreign coverage following the demise of World News Tonight and enable news from abroad to be spread evenly throughout the day.
Sky hopes that the home affairs correspondent will be able to address topics such as immigration, terrorism and the Home Office in a broader sense than the traditional crime correspondent.
In May, Sky’s head of news, Nick Pollard, announced his resignation from the channel after more than 10 years.
Sky said earlier this month that it would axe evening news shows World News Tonight and The Sky Report.
It is rumoured that the cuts were made in advance of Sky’s next annual budgetary round, which begins next month.
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