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Cathy Newman

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Cathy Newman
Cathy Newman in 2012
Born
Catherine Elizabeth Newman

(1974-07-14) 14 July 1974 (age 50)
Guildford, Surrey, England
NationalityBritish
Alma materLady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Occupation(s)Journalist, News presenter
Years active1997-present
Known forChannel 4 News
Spouse
John O'Connell
​
(m. 2001)​
Children2

Catherine Elizabeth Newman (born 14 July 1974)[1][2] is an English journalist and presenter of Channel 4 News.

Newman began her career as a newspaper journalist, and had spells at Media Week, The Independent, the Financial Times and The Washington Post. She has worked on Channel 4 News since 2006, initially as a correspondent and, since 2011, as a presenter.

Early life

Born in Guildford, Surrey, Newman is the younger daughter of Julia (née Worsdall) and David Newman, both chemistry teachers; she has a sister.[1][3][4] She was educated at Charterhouse, an independent school.[5] She 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.[6] Newman graduated with a first[2] from Oxford University, where she read English at Lady Margaret Hall.[7]

Career

Early career

After university, Newman briefly worked on The Guardian' Books section, then at Media Week (as a trainee) and The Independent (as media business correspondent) before joining the Financial Times at the age of 23.[3][8] Her older colleague Alice Rawsthorn acted as a mentor at the FT,[9] where Newman worked as a media and then (for three years) political correspondent. While Newman was working at the FT, David Yelland, the editor of The Sun, offered her a slot called "Better than Lex" (named after Lex, a column in the Financial Times).[6] She seriously considered the offer, but later declined; the experience led to further opportunities in political journalism.[6] Newman began a television career in 2000. She gained a Laurence Stern fellowship to work at The Washington Post for four months.[8] During her period in the US, she followed the 2000 Presidential campaign of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.[6][10]

Channel 4 News

She joined Channel 4 News as a political correspondent and deputy to political editor Gary Gibbon in January 2006.[11] 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,[12] 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.[13]

Newman became the first female co-presenter of the programme in 2011.[14][15] 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.[16][17] 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.[18] 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".[19] The victim of online sexism for her work, Newman gave her support for "public shaming" of trolls in 2013: "the best way to tackle these people is to publicly humiliate them".[20]

A regular commentator on politics in other media outlets, Newman has appeared as a guest panellist on Have I Got News For You[21] and blogs for The Daily Telegraph[22] and Economia magazine.[23]

Newman was long-listed for the Orwell Prize (Journalism) in 2010[24] and again in 2011 for the blog prize.[25] She was announced as one of the judges for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2015.[26] Her book, Bloody Brilliant Women, concerning significant, but unheralded, 20th century women, is due for publication in Autumn 2018.[27]

Jordan Peterson interview

In January 2018, Newman interviewed the Canadian psychologist and professor of psychology Jordan Peterson, who is known for his criticism of political correctness.[28] The combative interview covered topics such as gender equality, including the gender pay gap, freedom of speech, and transgender rights.[29][30]

The interview became a viral phenomenon on YouTube, and many commentators online were critical of Newman for her repeated misrepresentations of Dr. Peterson's responses to her questions.[31][32][33] The highlight of the interview was an exchange which began with Newman questioning why Dr. Peterson's right to free speech should trump others' right not to be offended.[34] Dr. Peterson turned the tables on Newman, explaining that the ability to think and seek out truth requires at times the risk of uttering potentially offensive speech, including as demonstrated by Newman's own willingness in the interview to risk offending him.[35] Newman was left momentarily speechless and soon after agreed that Dr. Peterson had "gotten her." After the interview, commentators began to popularize the phrase "So what you're saying is" followed by a deliberate distortion as a way to criticize Newman's use of the same phrase and tactics during the interview.[36]

Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear said that the station had called in security specialists in response to social-media abuse and threats directed against her.[28][30][37] She later told The Guardian that the abuse had included death threats.[3] Peterson asked his Twitter followers not to threaten her and to be "civilised" in their criticism.[29][33][38]

Personal life

Newman married writer John O'Connell, whom she met at university, in 2001. The couple have two daughters and live in London.[39] Newman has written about having a miscarriage, and about deciding to abort another child, after discovering 13 weeks into her pregnancy that the baby had a very rare condition which meant there was a high chance that it would die.[40]

References

  1. ^ a b "Newman, Cathy". WHO'S WHO and WHO WAS WHO. A&C Black. 2018. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-249479.
  2. ^ a b Lisa Campbell "Cathy Newman, C4 News", Broadcast, 20 October 2011. Newman's date of birth is given as "Bastille Day 1974".
  3. ^ a b c Iqbal, Nosheen (19 March 2018). "Cathy Newman: 'The internet is being written by men with an agenda'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  5. ^ "Charterhouse - Senior Only Boys Boys Boys Boys Boys Boys Boys Independent School - Surrey (see also London - Outer) - Guide to Independent Schools". guidetoindependentschools.com.
  6. ^ a b c d Ian Burrell "Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman doesn't just read the news - she makes it", Independent on Sunday, 18 May 2014
  7. ^ "Prominent LMH alumni" Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University website
  8. ^ a b "Cathy Newman - News and Current Affairs". Knight Ayton Management. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  9. ^ Sophie Morris "My Mentor: Cathy Newman On Alice Rawsthorn", The Independent, 28 August 2006
  10. ^ "Nader Picks a Milder Shade of Green". Common Dreams (reproduced from Washington Post).
  11. ^ "Cathy Newman - Presenter", Channel 4 News website
  12. ^ "Brown honour nomination 'normal'". BBC News.
  13. ^ "Did Mandelson use the 'chump' word?". Channel 4 News. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ "Cathy Newman, Channel 4 News". Broadcast Now. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  16. ^ Elgot, Jessica (27 February 2013). "Lord Rennard Allegations: Channel 4 Cathy Newman Calls Clegg Phone-In". Huffington Post. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  17. ^ Newman, Cathy (27 February 2013). "Lord Rennard row: Nick Clegg called to account by Cathy Newman". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  18. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa. "Cathy Newman claims to have been propositioned at political conference". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  19. ^ Lunn, Natasha (30 November 2016). "An Interview With News Presenter Cathy Newman". Red. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  20. ^ Mesure, Susie (19 July 2013). "Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman says public humiliation is the answer for sexist remarks". The Independent. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  21. ^ "Have I Got News For You Series 46 Episode 1 of 11". BBC. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  22. ^ "Cathy Newman", contributor page, telegraph.co.uk
  23. ^ "Cathy Newman", Economia contributor page
  24. ^ "Cathy Newman - Political correspondent", The Orwell Prize, Journalism Prize, 2010
  25. ^ "Cathy Newman - The FactCheck Blog - Channel 4 News", The Orwell Prize, Blog Prize, 2011
  26. ^ "Baileys women's prize for fiction shortlists debut alongside star names". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  27. ^ Saul, Hreather (8 March 2018). "17 bloody brilliant women (and two men) share their proudest moments for International Women's Day". i. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  28. ^ a b Harley, Nicola (2018). "Channel 4 News calls in security experts after trolls make 'vicious' threats to presenter Cathy Newman". The Telegraph.
  29. ^ a b Khan, Shehab; Sharman, Jon; Pasha-Robinson, Lucy (20 January 2018). "Cathy Newman: Channel 4 calls in security experts following 'vicious abuse' over Jordan Peterson interview". The Independent.
  30. ^ a b Likhodi, Lidia (29 January 2018). "British journalist subject to online threats following interview with Jordan Peterson". The Varsity. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  31. ^ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/putting-monsterpaint-onjordan-peterson/550859/
  32. ^ Doward, Jamie (21 January 2018). "'Back off', controversial professor urges critics of C4 interviewer". The Observer. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  33. ^ a b "Security for British TV personality bolstered after interview with Jordan Peterson". Toronto Star. Canadian Press. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  34. ^ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/17/jordan-b-peterson-leaves-reporter-speechless-after/
  35. ^ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/17/jordan-b-peterson-leaves-reporter-speechless-after/
  36. ^ https://medium.com/@stianchrister/24-memes-that-sum-up-jordan-peterson-vs-cathy-newman-7c7b9229f2f
  37. ^ Ruddick, Graham (19 January 2018). "Channel 4 calls in security experts after Cathy Newman suffers online abuse". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  38. ^ Gillespie, James (21 January 2018). "Channel 4's Cathy Newman trolled over gender pay gap". The Times. London. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  39. ^ Urwin, Urwin (21 July 2017). "Cathy Newman is on a mission to stamp out FGM". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  40. ^ Newman, Cathy (2 October 2012). "Cathy Newman: how the agony of my abortion made me see both sides". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
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