Anushka Asthana

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Anushka Asthana
BornMarch 1980 (age 45)
Scunthorpe, England, UK
Education St John's College, Cambridge (BA)
Occupation(s) Journalist, television presenter, author
Known for ITV News
Co-presenter of Peston
Presenter of Today in Focus
TitleDeputy Political Editor, ITV News

Anushka Asthana (born March 1980) is a British journalist, television presenter and author. She is the US editor for Channel 4 News, having previously been the deputy Political Editor of ITV News.

Contents

Early life

Asthana was born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and raised in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. [1] Her parents, both doctors, moved to the United Kingdom from New Delhi, India in the 1970s. [2] Asthana attended the private school Manchester High School for Girls and studied Economics at St John's College, Cambridge. [3]

Career

Asthana joined The Observer as a general reporter in 2003 and spent several months at The Washington Post in 2006 on the Laurence Stern fellowship. [1] Later she was a political correspondent for The Times before beginning to work for Sky News in 2013 as a political correspondent. [4] [5]

In succession to Patrick Wintour, Asthana was appointed in December 2015 as the joint political editor of The Guardian , in a job share arrangement with Heather Stewart which began in early 2016. [6] [7]

From 23 April 2017, Asthana covered the maternity leave of Allegra Stratton as the co-presenter of Peston on Sunday . [8] Since September 2018, Asthana has co-presented ITV's Wednesday night flagship politics discussion programme Peston . That year she decided to leave her role as the joint political editor of The Guardian to present its new daily podcast Today in Focus, later being promoted to editor-at-large, replacing Gary Younge. [9] [10]

Asthana left The Guardian in 2021 to join ITN as the ITV News Deputy Political Editor to Robert Peston. [11] [12] She was later linked to the vacant job of BBC political editor, although she ultimately remained with ITV. [13]

In April 2025, Channel 4 News announced that Asthana was joining their team from the August of 2025, becoming the US Editor. [14]

She is the author of Taken As Red: The Truth About Starmer's Labour ( ISBN   9780008697938), published in June 2025. [15]

References

  1. 1 2 Asthana, Anushka (26 November 2006). "My heart belongs to Delhi". The Observer. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Asthana, Anushka (14 October 2013). "Uncertain Journey Towards New Life In Britain". Sky News. Archived from the original on 18 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Asthana, Anushka. "Anushka Asthana: Class of 1998". Manchester High School for Girls. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Times political reporter Anushka Asthana moves to Sky News". Press Gazette . 16 May 2013. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014.
  5. ↑ Thorne, Anna (16 May 2014). "The highs and lows of the most exciting job you can do". The Oxford Student . Archived from the original on 1 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Ponsford, Dominic (11 December 2015). "Guardian 'breaks the mould' by making Anushka Asthana and Heather Stewart political editor on job share". Press Gazette. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Jackson, Jasper (11 December 2015). "Anushka Asthana and Heather Stewart to share role of Guardian political editor". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  8. ↑ Peston on Sunday (20 April 2017). "Anushka Asthana". Twitter . Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  9. ↑ "Guardian appoints new deputy editor and executive editorial team". The Guardian. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  10. ↑ Asthana, Anushka (24 November 2018). "Today in Focus: our new podcast bringing you the world in 20 minutes". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  11. ↑ Asthana, Anushka [@AnushkaAsthana] (23 March 2021). "Really excited to be joining ITV news as deputy political editor to @peston working with the brilliant @amberdebotton once more! Really looking forward to joining a great team..." (Tweet). Retrieved 31 March 2021– via Twitter.
  12. ↑ Wilson, Amy (30 March 2021). "ITV News hires Anushka Asthana as deputy political editor". ResponseSource. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Anushka Asthana and Sophy Ridge head all-female shortlist for BBC Political Editor". inews.co.uk. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "Anushka Asthana to join Channel 4 News as US Editor". Channel 4 News. 10 April 2025. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  15. ↑ Asthana, Anushka (3 July 2025). "After a year studying Starmer, I can tell you that he is at once a very kind man and a ruthless one". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
Media offices
Preceded by Political Editor of The Guardian
2016–2018
With: Heather Stewart 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Editor-at-large of The Guardian
2019–2021		Incumbent
Preceded by Deputy Political Editor of ITV News
2021–2025		Incumbent
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