Sky News Australia as network propaganda: how a niche cable channel became an international right-wing propaganda machine

In the past decade or so, the right-wing news channel, Sky News Australia , has pivoted to publishing online content that speaks to broadly right-wing audiences both in Australia and internationally. While the channel has long been regarded as comparatively unsuccessful, with low TV ratings, such unimpressive pay-TV audience ratings obscure a considerably more significant development elsewhere: Sky News Australia's content is shared and consumed increasingly widely in digital form, via social media. Positioning Sky News Australia as an example of a global system of network propaganda, this article examines how the channel has spread its content online. Studying a core period of Sky News Australia's digital growth during the 2020 COVID pandemic and US presidential race, we use a unique combination of digital methods to document how Sky News Australia has transitioned from a niche cable station to an international right-wing propaganda machine.