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John Ryley

John Ryley

Head of Sky News

John Ryley has been at the heart of Sky News’ success and transformation into a world-class multi product news organisation for the last two decades - first as Executive Producer, then Executive Editor and most recently as Head of Sky News.

 
In 2009 he launched a successful campaign for Leaders’ Debates in the run-up to the UK general election which transformed the nature of the campaign, raising voters’ interest and heightening political engagement. It led to a call from former CBS anchor Dan Rather for him to be awarded a knighthood “for getting these debates on the air”. John also led the successful campaign for cameras to be introduced into courts in England and Wales. Sky News started showing pooled coverage of hearings in the Court of Appeal last year.

He has also led Sky News’ push into online and mobile platforms including the launch in March 2011 of Sky News for iPad, a new way of accessing news content praised by one rival broadcaster as the “mother of all news apps… Sky’s app has set the industry ablaze”.

Since joining Sky News in 1995, John has pioneered innovative, live coverage of breaking news and news events for the channel, which has won the RTS News Channel of the Year Award for a record eight times. John produced Sky’s RTS award-winning coverage of the Princess of Wales’s funeral and as Executive Editor took a leading role in Sky’s coverage of the 9/11 attacks, for which the channel won its first BAFTA award. In August 2002, John was responsible for devoting the channel’s output to coverage of the Soham murders, for which it won a second BAFTA and an RTS award.

John began his career in television news as a graduate News Trainee at the BBC and worked on the BBC Nine O’clock News. He joined ITN in 1990 and went on to become Assistant Programme Editor of ITV’s News at Ten, editing all of the channel’s news shows. John was educated at Durham University and the Wharton School of Management.