Sky Sports News cause outrage after asking viewers to judge whether presenters are ‘sexy’

Sky Sports News are facing a backlash from staff after sending an online survey to viewers in which they were asked to judge whether the channel’s presenters are ‘sexy’ and ‘good-looking.’ 

The rolling news channel has been at the vanguard of promoting award-winning female broadcasters and journalists over the last 20 years, but have caused outrage with a bungled attempt at market research that has led to senior presenters demanding crisis talks with management.

The Sky Insight survey sent out this week, which has seen by Sportsmail, features a section in which viewers are asked if presenters on the channel possess certain characteristics. Among the options listed are ‘reliable,’ ‘sexy,’ ‘good-looking,’ ‘pretentious’ and ‘irritating.’

When staff discovered the contents of the survey earlier this week many are understood to have initially thought it was an April Fool joke, but Sky Sports News Director Mark Alford has since confirmed that it was genuine and had been sent to subscribers. Alford has spoken to staff to hear their grievances, although in an email defended the channel’s data-led approach.

A Sky spokesman told Sportsmail that the generic survey formatted by a market research company was sent in error, and the data collected was never used. The survey also made clear that the questions related to both men and women.

‘A survey which had historically been used for testing opinion on entertainment shows and characters, including comedy, was mistakenly used for Sky Sports and will not be used again,’ they said.