Sky News viewers have condemned the channel’s use of news alert banners during the ongoing crisis over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. During yesterday afternoon’s broadcast, the President of the United States was reduced to one eyebrow and well-coiffeured fringe of hair as the banners covered the majority of the screen.

‘It’s been pretty bad for the last twelve months,’ said Mike Leigh, one of the channel’s more ardent viewers. ‘Sometimes a breaking news banner can be on the screen all day, but I say it’s hardly breaking news when it’s five hours after the event. Yesterday really took the biscuit, though. All I could hear was the President’s voice. I couldn’t see him. There were so many banners, they stopped me seeing the very thing they were telling me to watch.’

This rebellion by a normally loyal audience comes only a month after a viewer’s group criticised the channel for reducing the amount of news it covers. ‘Years ago, you’d only get the news repeated every hour,’ said Mr. Leigh, ‘but now, it’s the same bloody headlines every fifteen minutes. Sometimes it feels like they only cover the same half a dozen stories in a day. A bit of variety would be nice.’

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