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Cathy Newman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the American memoirist, see Catherine Newman.

Cathy Newman
Newman in 2012
Born
Catherine Elizabeth Newman

(1974-07-14) 14 July 1974 (age 50)
Guildford, Surrey, England
EducationLady Margaret Hall, Oxford (BA)
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. She 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. Newman also presents a programme on Times Radio.

In 2018, she released Bloody Brilliant Women: The Pioneers, Revolutionaries and Geniuses Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention,[3] a book detailing the lives of women in Britain in the 20th and 21st centuries. In 2020, she released It Takes Two: A History of the Couples Who Dared to be Different, a book about how great pairs, from rivals to romantic couples, have made history.

Early life and education

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Born in Guildford, Surrey, Newman is the younger daughter of David Newman and Julia Worsdall, both chemistry teachers, and has one sister.[1][4][5] She attended a fee-paying girls school in Guildford until the age of 16,[6] when she joined Charterhouse, where her father taught, as one of a few girls admitted to the school's sixth form. She has said that she stayed silent for years about the sexual harassment and other humiliation she experienced from fellow pupils.[7] 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.[8] Newman read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford,[9] where she graduated with first-class honours.[8]

Career

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Early career

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Following university, Newman briefly worked on The Guardian's Books section, then at Media Week (as a trainee) and The Independent (as media business correspondent) before joining the Financial Times (FT) at the age of 23.[4][10] Her older colleague Alice Rawsthorn acted as a mentor at the FT,[11] 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).[8] She seriously considered the offer, but later declined; the experience led to further opportunities in political journalism.[8] Newman began a television career in 2000. She gained a Laurence Stern fellowship to work at The Washington Post for four months.[10] During her period in the US, she followed the 2000 Presidential campaign of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.[8]

Channel 4 News

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Newman joined Channel 4 News in January 2006 as a political correspondent and deputy to political editor Gary Gibbon.[12] She asked Peter Mandelson at the Brighton Labour Party conference in 2009, whether he had used the "c" word in a conversation with Rebekah Brooks, the CEO of News International.[13]

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.[14][15] 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.[16] 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".[17] The victim of online sexism for her work, Newman gave her support for "public humiliation" of trolls in 2013: "the best way to tackle these people is to publicly humiliate them".[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]

In February 2015, Newman tweeted that she was "ushered onto the street" for being female when she went to the South London Islamic Centre for a "Visit My Mosque" programme.[25] The mosque started receiving violent threats from the public as the story spread.[26] A spokesperson for the Hyderi Islamic Centre had said Newman had simply visited the wrong address,[27] and CCTV footage showed Newman had left the building of her own accord.[28] Newman and Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear later apologised, acknowledging that Newman had mistakenly visited the wrong building.[29][26]

On 8 September 2022, she interrupted Channel 4's scheduled programme to announce the death of Queen Elizabeth II, following an announcement from Buckingham Palace earlier in the day.[30]

Jordan Peterson interview

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On 16 January 2018, Newman interviewed Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson.[31][32] The interview covered topics such as gender equality, including the gender pay gap, freedom of speech, and transgender rights.[33][34] Short clips, gifs and memes of the fiery back-and-forth subsequently went viral, especially Newman's repeated use of the line "So you're saying..." —an utterance made 35 times during the 29-minute interview.[32]

Many YouTube commenters were critical of Newman, a large number of them saying she had "a preconceived and misplaced grasp of Peterson's views", wrote Jamie Doward of The Guardian.[35] New York Times columnist David Brooks criticized Newman for not listening to Peterson and for "distort[ing], simplif[ying] and restat[ing] his views to make them appear offensive and cartoonish".[36]

Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear said that the station called in security specialists in response to social media abuse and threats directed against her.[31][34][37] Newman later said that "there were literally thousands of abusive tweets – it was a semi-organised campaign. It ranged from the usual 'cunt, bitch, dumb blonde' to 'I'm going to find out where you live and execute you'."[4] On Twitter, Peterson said "There is no doubt that Cathy has been subjected to a withering barrage of criticism online. One of the things I’ve been trying to do is to try to imagine what I’d do if I found myself in her situation and how I would react to it and understand how it was happening. But they’ve provided no evidence that the criticisms constituted threats. There are some nasty cracks [sic] online but the idea that this is somehow reflective of a fundamental misogyny and that’s what’s driving this is ridiculous.",[38] although Peterson called for his supporters to be more civil.[39] Following the interview, Newman's Wikipedia article was "rapidly edited back and forth" for several weeks. Newman said that women generally are misrepresented in their Wikipedia biographies because the "internet is being written by men with an agenda."[4]

Writing

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Newman's book, Bloody Brilliant Women, concerning significant, but unheralded, 20th-century women,[40] was published in 2018.[41] The book presents case studies of both prominent and lesser known women throughout British history, finding parallels between their experiences and those of contemporary women.[42]

Times Radio

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In early 2020, Newman was announced by forthcoming radio station Times Radio as the presenter of their Friday drive time programme. She continues to present Channel 4 News while being a Times Radio presenter.[43]

Conor Burns: "Ambushed with a cake"

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On 25 January 2022, Newman interviewed Conor Burns, minister of state for Northern Ireland, on Channel 4 News about the imminent publication of Sue Gray's report into alleged parties at 10 Downing Street in violation of COVID-19 lockdowns. Burns defended Prime Minister Boris Johnson by insisting that one party to celebrate Johnson's birthday "was not a premeditated, organised party. He was, in a sense, ambushed with a cake".[44] The interview quickly went viral, inspiring thousands of social media memes, and Burns was widely mocked. The food writer Nigella Lawson joked on Twitter that she intended to use the phrase as the title for her next book.[45]

John Smyth QC abuse investigation

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In 2017, Newman led a Channel 4 investigation into John Smyth, barrister and friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, revealing Smyth's decades of abuse of boys and young men.[46] In response, the Church of England commissioned Keith Makin, a former director of social services, to conduct an official, independent review. Seven years later, in 2024, Newman received a leaked copy of the Makin Report and subsequently interviewed Welby for Channel 4 News.[47] Reacting to pressure from senior Church leaders, Welby quit as Archbishop of Canterbury five days later.

Personal life

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In 2001 Newman married writer John O'Connell, whom she met at university. The couple live in south-east London with their two daughters.[48][49] Newman has written about having a miscarriage, and about deciding to have an abortion, after discovering 13 weeks into her pregnancy that the foetus had a rare condition with a high mortality rate.[50]

Publications

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  • Bloody Brilliant Women. William Collins. 2018. ISBN 978-0-00-824171-1.
  • It Takes Two. William Collins, 2020. ISBN 978-0-00-836333-8.
  • The Ladder. William Collins, 2024. ISBN 978-0-00-856746-0

References

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  1. ^ a b "Newman, Cathy". WHO'S WHO and WHO WAS WHO. A&C Black. 2018. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U249479. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  2. ^ Campbell, Lisa (20 October 2011), "Cathy Newman, C4 News", Broadcast. Archived 2 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Newman's date of birth is given as "Bastille Day 1974".
  3. ^ Parkinson, Hannah Jane (22 October 2018). "Bloody Brilliant Women by Cathy Newman review – the history your teacher forgot to mention". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Iqbal, Nosheen (19 March 2018). "Cathy Newman: 'The internet is being written by men with an agenda'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  6. ^ Turner, Janice (29 June 2020). "Pervy peers, Twitter trolls and tough questions — Cathy Newman on tackling the big beasts of Westminster". The Times. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  7. ^ Quinn, Ben (2 September 2018). "Cathy Newman says she was sexually harassed at elite school". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d e Burrell, Ian (18 May 2014). "Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman doesn't just read the news – she makes it". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Prominent LMH alumni" Archived 12 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University website
  10. ^ a b "Cathy Newman – News and Current Affairs". Knight Ayton Management. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  11. ^ Morris, Sophie (28 August 2006), "My Mentor: Cathy Newman On Alice Rawsthorn", The Independent. Archived 2 August 2012 at archive.today.
  12. ^ "Cathy Newman – Presenter" Archived 25 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Channel 4 News website
  13. ^ "Did Mandelson use the 'chump' word?". Channel 4 News. 30 September 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  14. ^ Elgot, Jessica (27 February 2013). "Lord Rennard Allegations: Channel 4 Cathy Newman Calls Clegg Phone-In". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  15. ^ Newman, Cathy (27 February 2013). "Lord Rennard row: Nick Clegg called to account by Cathy Newman". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  16. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa (26 February 2013). "Cathy Newman claims to have been propositioned at political conference". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  17. ^ Lunn, Natasha (30 November 2016). "An Interview With News Presenter Cathy Newman". Red. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  18. ^ Mesure, Susie (19 July 2013). "Channel 4 newsreader Cathy Newman says public humiliation is the answer for sexist remarks". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  19. ^ "Have I Got News For You Series 46 Episode 1 of 11". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  20. ^ "Cathy Newman", contributor page, telegraph.co.uk. Archived 16 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
  21. ^ "Cathy Newman", Economia contributor page. Archived 11 April 2013 at archive.today.
  22. ^ "Cathy Newman – Political correspondent" Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Orwell Prize, Journalism Prize, 2010.
  23. ^ "Cathy Newman – The FactCheck Blog – Channel 4 News" Archived 11 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Orwell Prize, Blog Prize, 2011.
  24. ^ Flood, Alison (13 April 2015). "Baileys women's prize for fiction shortlists debut alongside star names". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  25. ^ "Channel 4's Cathy Newman 'Ushered Out' Of London Mosque During Open Day", The Huffington Post, 1 February 2015. Archived 4 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  26. ^ a b Conlan, Tara (6 February 2015). "Channel 4's Cathy Newman apologises for 'misunderstanding' over mosque". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  27. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  28. ^ Elgot, Jessica (6 February 2015). "Channel 4's Cathy Newman Apologises After CCTV Footage Emerges Of Mosque Incident". The Huffington Post (UK). Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  29. ^ "Channel 4 presenter Cathy Newman sorry over mosque claims". BBC News. 12 February 2015. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  30. ^ Yossman, K.J. (9 September 2022). "U.K. TV Schedules Thrown Into Disarray Following Death of Queen Elizabeth II". Variety. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  31. ^ a b Harley, Nicola (20 January 2018). "Channel 4 News calls in security experts after trolls make 'vicious' threats to presenter Cathy Newman". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  32. ^ a b Pennock-Speck, Barry (8 July 2021). "'So you're saying': the interrogation of Jordan Peterson". Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas. 16 (1): 161. doi:10.4995/rlyla.2021.14618. hdl:10251/169086. ISSN 1886-6298. S2CID 237797379.
  33. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  34. ^ a b Likhodi, Lidia (29 January 2018). "British journalist subject to online threats following interview with Jordan Peterson". The Varsity. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  35. ^ "Security for British TV personality bolstered after interview with Jordan Peterson". Toronto Star. Canadian Press. 2 January 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  36. ^ Brooks, David (26 January 2018). "The Jordan Peterson Moment". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  37. ^ Ruddick, Graham (19 January 2018). "Channel 4 calls in security experts after Cathy Newman suffers online abuse". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  38. ^ Doward, Jamie (21 January 2018). "'Back off', controversial professor urges critics of C4 interviewer". The Observer. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  39. ^ Heller, Karen (2 May 2018). "Jordan Peterson is on a crusade to toughen up young men. It's landed him on our cultural divide". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018.
  40. ^ Saul, Hreather (8 March 2018). "17 bloody brilliant women (and two men) share their proudest moments for International Women's Day". i. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  41. ^ Freeman, Laura (6 October 2018). "Review: Bloody Brilliant Women by Cathy Newman — hurrah for the 'hyenas in petticoats'". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  42. ^ Parkinson, Hannah Jane (22 October 2018). "Bloody Brilliant Women by Cathy Newman review – the history your teacher forgot to mention". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  43. ^ Sherwin, Adam (27 April 2020). "Channel 4 News' Cathy Newman joins Times Radio — will station challenge BBC Radio 4?". inews. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  44. ^ "Channel 4 News". 25 January 2022.
  45. ^ Nicholson, Kate (26 January 2022). "Partygate: The Best Jokes To Come Out Of The Latest 'Ambushed By Cake' Excuse". The Huffington Post.
  46. ^ "John Smyth". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  47. ^ "Archbishop of Canterbury resigns after church abuse scandal". Channel 4 News. 13 November 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  48. ^ Urwin, Rosamund (21 July 2017). "Cathy Newman is on a mission to stamp out FGM". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  49. ^ Worcester, Lily (8 March 2018). "My London: Cathy Newman". Evening Standard. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  50. ^ Newman, Cathy (2 October 2012). "Cathy Newman: how the agony of my abortion made me see both sides". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
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