The senior Sky News executive on duty when an Islamophobic guest appeared on Freya Fires Up has quit News Corp to rejoin Nine as executive producer at A Current Affair.

Sky staff were told on Wednesday that James Birtles, the broadcaster’s deputy head of programs, was rejoining his former employer to replace Amy McCarthy, who returned to the newsroom in August following a series of inappropriate social media posts at the Logie Awards.

Birtles was the senior executive on call on Sunday, September 21, when a guest with bacon draped over his shirt appeared on the Freya Fires Up show and made a number of Islamophobic comments before being cut off.

Sky’s vetting processes for its guest line-up that evening had raised no issues with the list of talent.

Birtles instructed Sky’s control r

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