BRITISH INDIAN scribe Anushka Asthana, 43, is one of the most notable women journalists who have broken the glass ceiling in a traditionally male-dominated career with sheer integrity and commitment.
Her incisive writings, presentation skills and journalistic abilities have influenced and engaged a wide-ranging audience from across the world. In her career spanning two decades, Asthana has touched upon several key issues that have impacted the lives of millions of people.
Beginning her journey from City, University of London, as a journalism student to joining Observer as a junior reporter in 2003 and donning the role as deputy political editor at ITV News in 2022, Asthana has traversed an action-packed journey that had transformed her life in entirety. Besides, she has also worked in key positions at The Washington Post, The Times, Sky News and The Guardian.
Working with some of the world’s best media brands, she has carved a niche in writing and been touted as one the best television presenters in the world.
As a veteran political commentator, Asthana has covered the highs and lows of British politics. Be it the parliament, refugee crisis, immigration issues, gender rights, wars, elections, Brexit, Asthana has been a leading voice on issues such as civil rights and social justice. Her work has brought the attention of lawmakers to the importance of many critical subjects.
Asthana walks tall as an icon for junior journalists and boasts a huge fan following of nearly 90,000 on Twitter.
Asthana’s parents – Dr Jagdish Asthana and Dr Aruna Asthana – moved to London from New Delhi in 1975. Asthana regretfully admits that as a child she had never bothered to delve into the feelings and emotions of her parents who travelled to London leaving their homeland, parents, siblings and friends.
At a later stage, her father’s comment came as an eye-opener, “If I was making the decision today, I would never have left India. India has everything that the West can offer and more.”
Asthana’s experience with media began while studying at St John’s College. There she played a pivotal role in bringing out a newspaper for students. During the same period, she started associating herself with a local television channel.
These two associations, according to Asthana, inspired her to apply for a journalism course at City in 2003. Asthana says that life at City was the real game changer as it instilled confidence to pursue journalism as a serious career option.
In 2006, she was awarded the Laurence Stern Fellowship and could work at The Washington Post for a short period.
While working at the Post, she remembers getting the golden opportunity to travel on Air Force One and interview Barack Obama, who was then a senator.
In 2015, she joined The Guardian newspaper as political editor, working jointly with former Observer economics editor Heather Stewart. Asthana went on to become editor-at-large at The Guardian and was the lead presenter of their award-winning daily podcast, Today in Focus.
She currently works alongside ITV News’ political editor Robert Peston on the channel’s flagship political programme, Peston.
Some of her impactful works include: a breaking story about the closures of hundreds of local schools that resulted in the councils changing their plans, revelations about the treatment of women and non-white people in political parties, leaks of government Brexit plans, the 2015 election, the rise of Corbyn, fears around immigration before Brexit, among others.
Asthana, however, admits that her job has always been more diverse than interviewing politicians. She recollects an unpleasant incident of covering two honour killings in Yorkshire: A girl being shot by her father on a holiday and a bride being stabbed while still wearing her wedding dress. Similarly, she spent hours in the cold and rain outside the house of Kenneth Bigley, a British hostage beheaded in Iraq in 2004.
As part of her job, Asthana has worked as an undercover drinker, speed dater and waitress among other things.
Asthana had daily meetings with the UK’s former prime minister David Cameron as Ukraine crisis unfolded. She feels that entering the world of the political lobby is very challenging, especially as newsrooms are male-dominated.
Journalism, in Asthana’s words, is a very tough world. “It is absolutely male dominated, and still a lot needs to be done specifically about the gender imbalance,” she concludes.
Asthana prefers to keep her personal life private. Her husband is Toby Jones, a communication professional in rugby. The couple has two sons.
