Cathy Newman

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Cathy Newman in 2012

Cathy Newman (born 14 July 1974[1]) is a British journalist and presenter of Channel 4 News.

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 Oxford University, 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]

Newman became the first female co-presenter of the programme in 2011.[10][11] 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.[12][13] 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.[14] She told Natasha Lunn in an interview for Red magazine in 2016: "As a woman in the media I feel a duty to make sure we report those issues. I’ve always wanted to right injustices; I suppose what’s changed is I’ve now got a keener sense of how journalists can hold power to account".[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 1 February 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.[10] Newman has talked openly about deciding to abort[28] another child, after discovering 13 weeks into 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.

References

  1. ^ a b Lisa Campbell "Cathy Newman, C4 News", Broadcast, 20 October 2011. Newman's date of birth as given as "Bastille Day 1974".
  2. ^ a b Ian Burrell "Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman doesn't just read the news - she makes it", Independent on Sunday, 18 May 2014
  3. ^ "Prominent LMH alumni" Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University website
  4. ^ a b "Cathy Newman - News and Current Affairs", Knight Ayton Management
  5. ^ Sophie Morris "My Mentor: Cathy Newman On Alice Rawsthorn", The Independent, 28 August 2006
  6. ^ "Nader Picks a Milder Shade of Green". Common Dreams (reproduced from Washington Post).
  7. ^ "Cathy Newman - Presenter", Channel 4 News website
  8. ^ "Brown honour nomination 'normal'". BBC News.
  9. ^ "Did Mandelson use the 'chump' word?". Channel 4 News. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  10. ^ a b 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
  11. ^ "Cathy Newman, Channel 4 News". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  12. ^ Elgot, Jessica (27 February 2013). "Lord Rennard Allegations: Channel 4 Cathy Newman Calls Clegg Phone-In". Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Lord Rennard row: Nick Clegg called to account by Cathy Newman". The Guardian. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  14. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa. "Cathy Newman claims to have been propositioned at political conference". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  15. ^ Lunn, Natasha (30 November 2016). "An Interview With News Presenter Cathy Newman". Red. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  16. ^ Newman, Cathy (26 December 2013). "In DR Congo with Angelina Jolie". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  17. ^ Newman, Cathy (1 December 2012). "Angelina Jolie: why I can't stay silent on warzone rape". Channel 4. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  18. ^ "Channel 4 Dispatches goes undercover to question the role of faith communities in our schools". Hardcash Productions. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  19. ^ "Have I Got News For You Series 46 Episode 1 of 11". BBC. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  20. ^ "Cathy Newman", contributor page, telegraph.co.uk
  21. ^ "Cathy Newman", Economia contributor page
  22. ^ "Cathy Newman - Political correspondent", The Orwell Prize, Journalism Prize, 2010
  23. ^ "Cathy Newman - The FactCheck Blog - Channel 4 News", The Orwell Prize, Blog Prize, 2011
  24. ^ "Baileys women's prize for fiction shortlists debut alongside star names". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  25. ^ "Channel 4's Cathy Newman 'Ushered Out' Of London Mosque During Open Day", Huffington Post, 1 February 2015
  26. ^ Johnston, Ian (2 February 2015). "'Mix-up, not sexism' as Channel 4 presenter Cathy Newman is turned away from a mosque on 'Visit My Mosque Day'". The Independent. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  27. ^ "Channel 4's Cathy Newman Apologises After CCTV Footage Emerges Of Mosque Incident", Huffington Post, 6 February 2015
  28. ^ "Cathy Newman: how the agony of my abortion made me see both sides". Telegraph. Retrieved 10 May 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cathy_Newman&oldid=790020566"