[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[43] 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.

[46] In response, the Church of England commissioned Keith Makin, a former director of social services, to conduct an official, independent review.

[49][50] 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.