Here Are Some Other People Who Have Appeared On Sky News Lately

Free-to-air from September.

On Sunday night Sky News Australia featured far right nationalist Blair Cottrell on The Adam Giles Show. Giles is the former chief minister of the Northern Territory, and Cottrell has made headlines in the past for saying there should be a portrait of Adolf Hitler in schools. Great areas all around.

Sky News / Facebook

People were understandably pissed off with the news outlet for legitimising Cottrell, including the station's staff. To many, the former United Patriot Front leader's appearance crossed a line, and even prompted the resignation of Sky News commentator Craig Emerson.

Laura Jayes @ljayes

Blair Cottrell is a far right-wing fascist who’s a self confessed Hitler fan. He’s boasted about using “violence and terror” to manipulate women. His rap sheet includes arson, burglary, racial vilification. He’s not an activist. He’s just an arsehole.

11:59 AM - 05 Aug 2018

But Cottrell's appearance on Sunday wasn't a one-off — Sky News Australia has been featuring prominent and controversial right wing (and beyond) commentators and "activists" for a few weeks now, and some might say it's spinning towards a more "Fox News" model of coverage. And it's going to be free-to-air next month.

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That's right. As of next month Sky News Australia will no longer be exclusive to Foxtel. Guests like Cottrell, and programs like the seemingly forever lamely controversial Outsiders, will be broadcast to the masses.

Sky News

Here are just a few of the people Sky News has welcomed over the last few weeks:

Lauren Southern.

Sky News

Southern appeared on Sky News' Friday afternoon show with Rita Panahi. You might know Southern's name because The Herald Sun and other News Corp outlets have done their best to stir up a media frenzy. In turn, Southern has then complained (on News Corp outlets) about the media frenzy. Good stuff!

In the past, Southern has been banned from entering the UK and platformed heavily for the plight of white South African farmers. She was also detained (and then released) in Italy for participating in an attempt to try and block a ship that rescues stranded refugees.

Stefan Molyneux.

Sky News

Molyneux was recently in Australia with Lauren Southern. The pair were hosting a series of talks in Sydney and Melbourne. They attempted to do the same in New Zealand, but their initial venue cancelled the event after backlash. Molyneux has denied being part of the alt-right, calling himself a "philosopher" on Sky News' Bolt Report last month.

Molyneux has denied accusations he is leading a cult. The claims stem from the Canadian's theory of "deFOOing", the term he uses to define the practice of completely dissociating from your own family. Molyneux believes all relationships are voluntary and as such people should feel OK about rejecting their "family of origin". However, Molyneux says only a handful of people that he knows of have actually left their families.

Australian senator David Leyonhjelm, who used the platform to slut-shame Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Sky News

Appearing on Sky News Outsiders, senator David Leyonhjelm discussed Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young's sex life while a banner at the bottom of the screen recounted his words. A producer was later suspended by Sky, and Outsiders hosts Rowan Dean and Ross Cameron apologised the next day.

Sarah Hanson-Young is suing Leyonhjelm over the comments. Leyonhjelm also yelled "stop shagging men" at her in parliament.

Avi Yemini.

Sky News

Avi Yemini made headlines last week after he posted the personal phone number of ABC journalist Osman Faruqi to his Facebook following of more than 150,000, telling people to "let [Faruqi] know what you think". Later that night, Faruqi received abuse and death threats before Facebook removed the post some 18 hours later.

Yemini, a former Israel Defense Force soldier, is running as a candidate for the Australian Liberty Alliance. He organised an event in 2016 on the "dangers of Muslim migration" but it was later cancelled.

Andrew Bolt (but he's always there).

Richard Di Natale @RichardDiNatale

The racism and bigotry that Andrew Bolt peddles goes against our compassionate nature as a country built on migrants. If he wants to talk about ‘losing our identity’ he only need look at his hateful and divisive columns to understand where the problem lies. https://t.co/DvgBb6yI9x

05:06 AM - 03 Aug 2018

You probably already know Andrew Bolt. He's not just confined to late-night Sky News, he's also in the paper. But Bolt has been talked about more recently because of a few columns, such as the one about "the foreign invasion", wherein he posits Australia is losing its identity because of all the non-English people arriving.

On Monday, Bolt said he would not be cooperating with the Press Council, which has received numerous complaints about his column.

Anyway, Bolt has his own show on Sky News.

Sydney Watson.

Sky News

Sydney Watson is a fairly new talking head on Sky News. She burst onto the scene earlier this year on Facebook, with her videos covering topics such as the myth of white privilege, Australia's gun laws, why Australians don't have freedom of speech, and why feminists are hypocrites. She's organising a "March for Men" later this month in Melbourne, to "remind the men in our lives and men in Australia that their issues matter too and it is okay to be masculine".

Daisy Cousens.

Sky News

Daisy Cousens has appeared as a "conservative" commentator on multiple Sky News programs for a few months now. She also appeared on the ABC's Hack Live, critiquing feminism and the idea of male privilege.

Sky News Australia is set to go free-to-air on regional television network WIN on September 2. There will also be a new breakfast show, hosted by Jaynie Seal. See you then!

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