The social media wunderkind Neal Mann, better known as @fieldproducer, has walked out on Sky News just weeks after bosses told journalists to curb their Twittering. Monkey hears that the new top-down guidelines – which have been widely lampooned by rival outlets – appear to have rubbed several Sky News staffers up the wrong way. And although bosses have avoided a full-scale revolt in Osterley, the broadcaster's digital news whizz has now taken his sizeable Twitter following elsewhere. Rumour has it that only Sky News top brass were consulted about February's Twitter clampdown, which told journalists not to retweet their rivals or message about non-work subjects. The dictat is believed to have come into force after one staffer tweeted unverified details about a passenger plane that made an emergency landing in Belfast – much to the annoyance of a handful of big bosses. Today sees the first Mann out of the Sky News door, but could there be more?
UPDATE: 6.10pm The Sky News exit door has swung even wider. Monkey hears that Ruth Barnett (@skyruth), the politics producer and former social media correspondent, has also quit the broadcaster.
