Cathy Newman
Cathy Newman (born 14 July 1974[1]) is a British journalist and presenter of Channel 4 News.
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Early life
Born in Guildford, Surrey, Newman is a daughter of two chemistry teachers, and was on the path to a career as a violinist or in the legal profession before changing her plans as a result of seeing BBC journalist Kate Adie on television.[2] Newman graduated with a first[1] from University of Oxford, where she read English at Lady Margaret Hall.[3]
Career in journalism
After university, Newman briefly worked for Media Week and The Independent (as business correspondent)[4] before joining the Financial Times at the age of 23. Her older colleague Alice Rawsthorn acted as a mentor at the FT,[5] where Newman worked as a media and then (for three years) political correspondent. In 2000, Newman gained a Laurence Stern fellowship to work at The Washington Post for four months.[4] During her period in the US, she followed the 2000 Presidential campaign of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.[2][6]
She joined Channel 4 News as a political correspondent (and deputy to political editor Gary Gibbon) in January 2006[7] In this role she broke several stories, including claims the Treasury pushed through the nomination of then Chancellor Gordon Brown's close friend Ronald Cohen for the House of Lords,[8] challenging Peter Mandelson at the Brighton Labour Party conference in 2009, over his claimed use of the 'c' word in a conversation with Rebekah Brooks, then Wade, the CEO of News International.[9] and uncovering five illegal immigrants who were employed in the home office [10]
Newman became the first female co-presenter of the programme in 2011. [11] [12] Alongside this, she has also headed the team behind the FactCheck blog.
From 2013 to 2015, Newman's pursuit of a story about the allegations of improper conduct levelled at Lord Rennard, once a leading figure in the Liberal Democrats, included her participation in an LBC local London radio phone-in on 27 February 2013 to quiz deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on the issue.[13][14] Newman has commented that sexism was endemic at Westminster during her period as a lobby correspondent there, but has also said that the newspaper industry is even worse.[15] In late 2013, she travelled with William Hague and Angelina Jolie to highlight the effect of warzone rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.[16] [17] Newman also investigated the balance of the curriculum in some faith schools in the UK for the Dispatches series on Channel 4.[18]
A regular commentator on politics in other media outlets, Newman has appeared as a guest panellist on Have I Got News For You[19] and blogs for The Daily Telegraph[20] and Economia magazine.[21]
Newman was long-listed for the Orwell Prize (Journalism) in 2010[22] and again in 2011 for the blog prize.[23] She was announced as one of the judges for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2015.[24]
Mosque "ushering" apology
On February 1, 2015 Newman tweeted that she was "ushered onto the street" when she went to South London Islamic Centre (SLIC) for a 'Visit My Mosque' programme in error.[25] A spokesperson for the Hyderi Islamic Centre had said Newman had simply visited the wrong address.[26] Later, The Huffington Post obtained CCTV footage which, "appeared to contradict" her account; Newman has since apologised.[27]
Personal life
Newman married writer John O'Connell, whom she met at university, in 2001. The couple have two daughters.[11] Newman has talked openly about deciding to abort[28] another child, after discovering 13 weeks in to her pregnancy that the baby had a very rare condition which meant there was a high chance it would die before reaching full term, or during labour.
In 2014 a man appeared in Highbury Magistrates Court charged with harassment without violence after bombarding Newman with over 100,000 tweets and kissing her after following her in to the ITN office.[29]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lisa Campbell "Cathy Newman, C4 News", Broadcast, 20 October 2011. Newman's date of birth as given as "Bastille Day 1974".
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ian Burrell "Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman doesn't just read the news - she makes it", Independent on Sunday, 18 May 2014
- ↑ "Prominent LMH alumni" Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University website
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Cathy Newman - News and Current Affairs", Knight Ayton Management
- ↑ Sophie Morris "My Mentor: Cathy Newman On Alice Rawsthorn", The Independent, 28 August 2006
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- ↑ "Cathy Newman - Presenter", Channel 4 News website
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- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Neil Midgley "Cathy Newman: The time I feel the need for plastic surgery is the time that I leave TV", Evening Standard, 6 December 2011
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- ↑ "Cathy Newman", contributor page, telegraph.co.uk
- ↑ "Cathy Newman", Economia contributor page
- ↑ "Cathy Newman - Political correspondent", The Orwell Prize, Journalism Prize, 2010
- ↑ "Cathy Newman - The FactCheck Blog - Channel 4 News", The Orwell Prize, Blog Prize, 2011
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- ↑ "Channel 4's Cathy Newman 'Ushered Out' Of London Mosque During Open Day", Huffington Post, 1 February 2015
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- ↑ "Channel 4's Cathy Newman Apologises After CCTV Footage Emerges Of Mosque Incident", Huffington Post, 6 February 2015
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External links
- Cathy Newman at the Internet Movie Database
- Cathy Newman on Twitter
- Cathy Newman profile on the Channel 4 News web site
