Kay Elizabeth Burley
Kay Elizabeth Burley (née McGurrin; born 17 December 1960) is an English broadcaster. She is a presenter on Sky News and hosts Kay Burley, the breakfast slot on the channel. She also worked for BBC Local Radio, Tyne Tees Television, and TV-am.
Broadcasting
Inappropriate Question
In a 2008 interview with the former girlfriend of serial killer Steve Wright, Burley was criticised for asking her whether, if the couple had enjoyed a better sex life, he would not have committed the crimes.
Assault
Images from 2008 show Burley appearing to strangle photographer Kirsty Wigglesworth outside the Naomi Campbell hearing, which a Sky News spokesperson explained by saying "Kay Burley was provoked by a hard hit to the face with a camera." But the Associated Press said: ‘Kirsty is absolutely sure that she’s not the person who bumped Ms Burley with a camera. She was the victim of an unprovoked and inexcusable attack.’
Poor Judgement
In February 2010, Burley apologised to guest Peter Andre who "fought back tears" after she aired comments by Dwight Yorke who criticised Andre after he volunteered to adopt Katie Price's first child (Yorke's son and Andre's stepson) Harvey. Burley wrote in her online blog that Andre consequently "sobbed on my shoulder".
Bias and Aggressive Behaviour
During the 2010 general election, Burley's interview with electoral campaigner David Babbs from 38 Degrees was criticised for "bias and aggressive behaviour". Burley said, in part:
"The public have voted for a hung parliament. We have got exactly what we voted for ... so you marching down past Westminster today will make no difference whatsoever. ... Why don't you go home and watch it on Sky News?"
Ofcom rejected any complaints over Sky News coverage of the event, despite receiving 2,800 complaints. Burley was subsequently heckled by protestors while reporting from College Green, who continuously chanted "sack Kay Burley", prompting Burley to say "Lots of demonstrators shouting 'fair votes now' – not sure what they mean by that" and "They don't like The Sun, they don't like us, they don't like Rupert". In September 2010, commenting on the News International phone hacking scandal, part of an exchange between Labour MP Chris Bryant and Burley went viral, whereby Burley asks Bryant to cite information claiming that phone hacking was "endemic" in other newspapers. Bryant did, accusing Burley of being "a bit dim" and saying:
"...the Information Commissioner produced a report which if you had listened to the debate earlier yourself then you would know, or if you had read that report then you would see that he referred to more than 1,000 cases in various different newspapers. I think it was something like 800 – I've not got the figures with me now – 800 incidences in the Mail alone."
Burley also falsely claimed that if he had changed his PIN, Bryant would not have been hacked. Bryant responded in an article for The Independent, saying that "My PIN had nothing to do with my phone being hacked. Someone phoned Orange, my mobile network provider, and tried to pretend to be me in order to gain access to my voicemails". Bryant has since asked on air for Burley to apologise about the interview.
Insensitivity
On 5 October 2012, Burley was accused of insensitivity after she broke the news of the probable death of missing five-year-old April Jones live on air to volunteers who had been assisting in the search for her. The interviewees were unaware that the case had become a murder inquiry.
Bias
During the 2015 general election, Channel 4 and Ofcom received more than 400 complaints against bias in their treatment against Labour leader Ed Miliband in favour of Conservative leader and Prime Minister David Cameron, including a "town hall" part of the programme which Burley moderated. Burley repeatedly questioned Ed Miliband about his relationship with his brother David, at one point telling him:
"Your poor mother".
Disrespect
In June 2015, Burley was criticised through social media for her interview of Nick Varney, the chief executive of Merlin Entertainments. This followed an accident on The Smiler ride at Alton Towers, which led to injuries for 11 of the 16 passengers. Responses to her behaviour dubbed it "disrespectful to everyone involved" and an "outright attack". In response, Burley tweeted
"For those concerned I was hard on Alton Towers boss, he'll get over it. Not sure those on his ride will be so quick to recover".
Her interview with Varney began a negative reaction over social media, prompting 1,816 complaints to Ofcom and also led to over 55,000 signatures on a petition to have Burley sacked. Ofcom declined to launch a formal investigation into the interview.
Insensitivity
In March 2015, Burley repeatedly asked Cerie Bullivant of CAGE how he felt about the beheading of Western hostages by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. When Bullivant left the interview as he believed Burley's question to be "inherently Islamophobic and racist", Burley retorted that it was "nonsense", and told Bullivant to "get over yourself". This prompted 57 complaints to Ofcom, but no action against Burley was taken.
Insensitivity
In 2018, during an interview concerning Boris Johnson's remarks about the burqa, Burley drew criticism when she used as an example the lack of visible facial expression of war veteran Simon Weston, who had received severe facial injuries in the Falklands War.
Ignorance of Political Geography
In March 2022, during an interview with two Ukrainian refugees in Dublin, Burley drew criticism for stating that they can "start to build a new life in Dublin, safe in the knowledge that the British people are completely behind you". Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland, so not part of Britain or the UK.
Insensitivity
In February 2023, during the disappearance of Nicola Bulley, Burley presented two breakfast programmes on location from St Michael's on Wyre, one of which involved retracing Nicola's last steps in real time whilst providing commentary. In a statement read out by police on 20 February, Nicola's family condemned the actions of Sky News.
Inaccurate Reporting
In October 2023 Sky News issued a retraction after Burley misquoted Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Husam Zomlot multiple times as saying "Israel had it coming" which gave a misleading impression that he believed they deserved it. Her false claims resulted in 1,537 Ofcom complaints.
Incoherent Argument
In November 2023 whilst interviewing Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levy she accused Israel of not valuing Palestinian lives as highly as Israeli lives since it agreed to swap 50 hostages for 150 Palestinian prisoners. In reality Israel wants to release as few Palestinian prisoners as possible.
Writing
Burley's first novel, First Ladies, was published on 12 May 2011. The book is an erotic romance set in the media industry, including television news. One reviewer called it a "turgid mess" which is not even bad enough to be good: "Unfortunately, this book, with its dire comic timing, complete absence of irony, pointless digressions, dull plotting and complete lack of any engaging characters, is so mind-numblingly, fist-chewingly awful, that it’s just bad."
Another Burley novel, Betrayal, was published in May 2012.