Anushka Asthana (born 1980) is a British Indian journalist and television presenter, who is currently deputy political editor of ITV News.

Early life

Asthana was born in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...

, Lincolnshire, and raised in Stalybridge,

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

. Her parents, both doctors, moved to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

from

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the 1970s. Asthana attended the private school Manchester High School for Girls and read

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

at St John's College, Cambridge.

Career

Asthana joined ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' as a general reporter in 2003 and spent several months at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' in 2006 on the Laurence Stern fellowship. Later she was a political correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' before beginning to work for Sky News in 2013 as a political correspondent. In succession to

Patrick Wintour Patrick Wintour (born 1 November 1954) is a British journalist and the diplomatic editor of ''The Guardian''. He was the political editor of ''The Guardian'' from 2006 to 2015 and was formerly the newspaper's chief political correspondent for t ...

, Asthana was appointed in December 2015 as the joint political editor of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', in a job share arrangement with Heather Stewart which began in early 2016. From 23 April 2017, Asthana covered the maternity leave of Allegra Stratton as the co-presenter of '' Peston on Sunday''. 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. Asthana left the Guardian in 2021 to join '' ITV News'' as deputy political editor to

Robert Peston Robert James Kenneth Peston (born 25 April 1960) is an English journalist, presenter, and author. He is the political editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show ''Peston'' (previously ''Peston on Sunday''). From 2006 u ...

. She was later linked to the vacant job of BBC political editor, although she ultimately remained with ITV.

References

External links

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Anushka Asthana
at The Guardian {{DEFAULTSORT:Asthana, Anushka 1980 births 21st-century British journalists Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge British people of Indian descent The Guardian people ITN newsreaders and journalists Living people People educated at Manchester High School for Girls People from Scunthorpe Sky News newsreaders and journalists