Channel
4 News has appointed Cathy Newman as its political correspondent – the
first new on-screen journalist to join the political team for 11 years.
Newman
will work alongside Gary Gibbon, who was promoted to political editor
in August after the departure of Elinor Goodman. Newman is currently
chief political correspondent at the Financial Times.
Channel 4
News editor Jim Gray said: “Cathy’s a highly experienced political
journalist, who will be a great asset to our political firepower. She
joins the team that broke the Attorney General’s legal advice story
during the election campaign – a team that continues to focus on
unearthing original stories on the big political issues – something
Cathy has a proven track record of doing.”
Gibbon and Newman will
be the second male/female political duo for ITN, which produces Channel
4 News and ITV News. This summer ITV appointed Tom Bradby as political
editor, with Daisy Sampson as chief political reporter.
Newman
has worked as chief political correspondent for the FT for the past
three years. She is also a guest presenter on GMTV’s Sunday programme.
Newman
said: “I have been thinking for a while about crossing over from press
to broadcasting. While I have loved my time on the FT, there are
aspects of print journalism that I am beginning to find frustrating. I
love digging out scoops, but sometimes get annoyed at writing the big
story of the day, only for it to appear up to 24 hours after TV and
radio have said exactly the same thing.
“I think I’ll be able to add more value on TV by reporting on stories as they unfold, and also breaking scoops.
Channel
4 particularly appeals to me because it has a culture of scoop-getting
– something that, arguably some of its broadcast rivals have tended to
leave to print journalists.”
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