Alan Jones quits, writes 1500-word resignation letter on Facebook

By TBS Newsbot  

After Sky News chose not to renew his contract, Alan Jones took to Facebook to announce that he was quitting. 

If Ernest Hemingway said that courage stemmed from being graceful under pressure, Alan Jones quitting Sky News (after they chose not to renew his contract) in a rambling 1500-word Facebook post is surely the opposite. Carved in the tone of a jilted spouse, justifying all the positives he brought to the relationship, Jones confirmed that “the management at Sky News have indicated to me that they will not renew my contract, which ends on November 30.”

Jones wrote, “When I arrived at Sky News and was signed to a 17-month contract, it was made quite clear to me that the 8PM slot was, in the words of management, a ‘dead’ spot. It was clear from the outset that my signing at Sky News brought over a new audience to the station. Indeed, one observation was made last year that ‘since the launch of Alan Jones on Sky News Australia, the network has seen major growth across its digital platforms.’ And, ‘The launch of Alan Jones on Sky News Australia in July saw the channel’s radio ratings double on the iHeart Radio app, making Sky News Radio the #1 Australian news/talk station on the platform.’ In my brief time that I have been at Sky News, the audience at 8PM has significantly increased.”

“On the social media front, it was said that November 2020 was ‘another extraordinary month for Alan Jones on social media,’” Jones wrote, before adding: “In that month, there were 12.6 million views of Alan Jones video on digital platforms, with 68% of the audience coming from YouTube. I made mention of information on the US election being censored by ‘powerful interests’ in the media. That post reached 4.2 million people on Facebook and delivered 2.4 million video views with 617,000 of those watching for longer than one minute, which was described as ‘an extraordinary result’ for Facebook where the audience typically has a short attention span. Sky News rightly boasts significant personalities with strong and legitimate opinions. As a result, people often search the internet in order to refresh themselves with something we have said. In other words, put simply, if you’re not saying anything that is relevant to the viewer or the public, they are not likely to be much interested in checking out your content.”

Speaking in the third person, Jones claimed it was cancel culture that held the knife that bled him. “In recent times my material hasn’t been widely published on these sites as the company has felt under threat from being cancelled. Nonetheless, the figure I have indicated above is significant. People have been googling Alan Jones and immediately the bulk of them go to the Sky News website to access Alan Jones’ opinions,” he said.

So, what happens now? Probably nothing. In 2019, Jones was surprisingly featured on the 7News election coverage, who took the opportunity to draw the conclusion that Scott Morrison’s win meant that climate change wasn’t a thing.

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.@Bowenchris to @AlanJones: "The difference between us is, I believe in climate change." Live coverage now on @Channel7 and streaming at https://t.co/TWh1KQgBAw #ausvotes #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/FFlRRmYYUB

— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) May 18, 2019

This article was originally published on The Big Smoke.