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Twenty-four hour news channels practice inauthentic journalism, former Sky News boss, Nick Pollard said yesterday during an event at Coventry University.

"A 24-hour channel is very labour intensive and it doesn't do an awful lot of what you may call real journalism," said Pollard, who gave his lecture on the future of TV news as part of the Coventry Conversations series .

Giving the examples of 9/11 and tsunami aftermath stories, Pollard, who headed Sky News' 24-hour channel for 10 years, argued that 'big stories are made for 24-hour coverage, but there is a tremendous temptation to fill the rest with analysis'.

Regarding breaking news coverage, Pollard said he strongly believes such stories are better covered by newspapers and their websites and not 24-hour channels.

Pollard said he could see electronic newspapers playing a key role in the future of news distribution and consumption.

"I have a picture of a much more conventional and modern merge: the electronic newspapers, with moving pictures like Harry Potter, putting on screen just stuff you are interested in," he said.

Teo Beleaga is a journalism and media student at Coventry University, whose students run the CUToday website .

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Teo Beleaga

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