The head of Sky News has dismissed author Alain de Botton’s criticism of news media as part of a staunch defence of rolling news channels, arguing that they play a critical role in the digital era.

John Ryley said de Botton’s critique in his book, The News: A User’s Manual, that news has replaced religion as the prime influencer of society is “simply wrong”.

Ryley also hit back at critics who have recently argued that TV news channels have had their day and will be superseded by online video news, saying Sky News is “live and on demand 24/7”.

“De Botton is fairly disdainful about the news media in general, though his research seems not to have reached much beyond the BBC,” said Ryley, in a speech the RSA in London on Wednesday. “He suggests that this quasi-religious aspect of news in the 21st century has a very specific consequence. It means that we – me, you, the public – must treat it deferentially and comply with its rules without question or hesitation.”

Ryley said that news organisations do not “shape” people’s views.

“We are simply giving them the most accurate information impartially,” he said. “So that they can shape their own views. We are not doing what de Botton accuses us of - trying to ‘craft a new planet’ in the minds of the audience.”

Ryley also turned his sights on Richard Sambrook, the former director of BBC News, who recently questioned the continuing relevance of 24 hour TV news channels in the digital era.

Ryley said that Sambrook’s argument – that expensive rolling TV news channels could be shut freeing more resource for online delivery – was “too narrow and out-of-date”.

“It considers and old world where it’s possible to pigeon hole organisations and what they do,” he said. “Sky’s news is not just a rolling news channel. Just as the Guardian, or the Times is not only a newspaper. Sky News is live and on-demand 24/7. Digital may be impacting traditional platforms, but it is not yet replacing them”.

He said that even in a digital world the main channel remains the “backbone and beating heart” of a news service.

“The growth of technology has opened previously undreamed of frontiers in the way news is distributed and delivered - smartphones, tablets. The key to exploiting these multiplatform opportunities remains with being a 24-hour service with the live stream at its core. It is the spine ... [the] main source of strength.”

Ryley acknowledged that mainstream media is losing young audiences to sources such as Buzzfeed, with a populist style of news and stories as lists, but with a rapid expansion in consumption driven by technology there is room for everyone.

“This collapse in the barriers to entry has caused a democratisation of news that has allowed in new services, like Vice Media,” he said. Traditional news organisations would be foolish to ignore them. We should learn from them”.

He said that the vibrancy of the news sector was proven by the launch of services such as Huffpost Live and WSJ Live, which have “much of the look and feel of a rolling news channel”.

“They have paid us the highest possible compliment - imitation,” he said. “Hence my unshakeable belief that if Sky did not have rolling news channel, we would have had to invent it.”

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”.

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.