Sky News’s digital news editor Neal Mann, known to 43,000 people on Twitter as @fieldproducer, has announced he has decided to leave the broadcaster.
Mann announced on Twitter on Friday night:
I’ve decided to leave Sky News. I’ve had a brilliant 3 years, but the time has come to discover what else is out there.
— Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) Mars 16, 2012
Another Sky colleague, former social media correspondent Ruth Barnett, is also leaving to become head of communications for Android app producer SwiftKey. She wrote on Friday:
But this isn’t over any alleged Twitter rules row, just a decision to seize an opportunity to learn new skills and take an exciting risk.
— Ruth Barnett (@SkyRuth) Mars 16, 2012
Sky News introduced new guidelines for journalists about the use of Twitter last month, including the line: “Do not retweet information posted by other journalists or people on Twitter. Such information could be wrong and has not been through the Sky News editorial process.”
Reuters’ Anthony de Rosa commented at the time:
These new rules will hamstring Neal and make it difficult, if not impossible, for him to continue to do what he did to garner so much appreciation from people like me. I suspect Sky will come to their senses and realize the error of their ways. If not, they’re going to lose one of their best ambassadors in Neal, and I would suspect many people working at Sky may wonder if they’re working for an organization that is writing policies that will drive them into obsolescence.