Empty chair: frustrated Kay Burley turns table on politician, Ofcom investigates
Sky News journalist Kay Burley vented her fury live on air at James Cleverly’s failure to appear on her show.
The relationship between the media and political parties is fractious.
Politicians are less reliant on mainstream media than has previously been the case. They have a variety of paid, earned, social and owned media at their disposal.
Conservative party chairman James Cleverly did a round of breakfast media interviews on Wednesday morning. Cleverly has been the Member of Parliament for Braintree since 2015.
He spoke to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and ITV Good Morning Britain, among others. According to Sky New’s Kay Burley he failed for turn up for an interview on her flagship show.
Burley vented her frustration at Cleverly by showing an empty chair opposite her in the studio. She listed the questions that she would have asked given the opportunity.
Cleverly took to Twitter to deny having been booked to appear on Sky News.
Ofcom said on Wednesday evening that it had received more than 20 complaints about Burley and may launch an investigation into her claims.
Broadcast media is accountable to Ofcom for rules of fairness during an election period. It's a reason why politicians dodge TV interviews in favour of print and digital media, although this wasn't the case in this instance, as Cleverly appeared on other TV media.
Meanwhile the Sky News video clip of Burley and an empty chair continues to circulate on mainstream and social media.
I’m going to try and keep a diary on my blog of how the different political campaigns engage with social and mainstream media during the 2019 election. If you spot a story that you think merits investigation please let me know.
Image credit: Wikipedia.
