Ross Coulthart

Ross Coulthart is an Australian journalist, documentary producer and author whom NewsNation, a cable network owned by Nexstar Media Group, signed as a special correspondent and investigative journalist on November 14, 2023.¹ The announcement stated that he would "continue to provide reporting on UFO whistleblower David Grusch, along with the larger investigation into an alleged secret U.S. military operation that is believed to have been retrieving non-human intelligence spacecraft for years."¹

Career before NewsNation

The Nexstar announcement lists, over "three decades in journalism," work at The Sydney Morning Herald, at Four Corners on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, at 60 Minutes on the Nine Network, most recently as investigative reporter for Spotlight on the Seven Network and before that as chief investigative reporter for the news program Sunday Night. It states that he received five Walkley Awards including the Gold Walkley and a Logie, that he co-authored six books including The Lost Diggers, Dead Man Running and Above the Law, that his biography of Charles Bean won the 2015 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Australian History, and that he holds a law degree from Victoria University of Wellington and lives in Sydney.¹ His book In Plain Sight: An Investigation Into UFOs and Impossible Science is listed as his "latest book," and in 2022 he "began hosting the podcast Need to Know with fellow author, producer, and journalist Bryce Zabel."¹ The announcement quoted NewsNation president of news Michael Corn: "We look forward to offering our viewers more of Ross' outstanding journalism."¹ His first NewsNation project was "Unsolved: The JFK Assassination," a special timed to the 60th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, scheduled for November 19, 2023.¹ NewsNation was announced in May 2020 as the primetime national newscast of the cable channel WGN America with a September 1, 2020 target date; Nexstar chairman and chief executive Perry Sook said it would be "100 percent absent of bias."⁴

Grusch and the July 2023 hearing

NewsNation's article "We are not alone: The UFO whistleblower speaks" was entered into the record of the July 26, 2023 hearing of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform by Representative Anna Paulina Luna.⁵ NewsNation wrote in January 2025 that "In June 2023, NewsNation was the first television network to present an interview with Grusch," and that the account "has led to multiple Congressional hearings."²⁶

Barber and Skywatcher

Coulthart conducted the January 2025 interviews with Jake Barber and introduced Barber to Garry Nolan in 2024, according to NewsNation's account of its own reporting.⁷ On Sunday, April 6, 2025 he told "NewsNation Prime," as reported on April 7, that Sky Watcher used an "electro-mechanical dog whistle," that "every time they use their dog whistle, it's worked 100% of the time in summoning the phenomenon," and that a video of nine shapes, including a "jellyfish-shaped" object, would follow "within a day."³ Appearing on "NewsNation Prime" on Sunday, February 23, 2025, as reported on February 24, he called the Department of Defense investigation of Barber "an incremental step forward" and said, "So far, I'm a little bit skeptical, but we'll wait and see."⁸

In an August 2026 column he wrote that "it appears Skywatcher has indeed been dissolved," that "multiple insiders told NewsNation" its team had been "working with and reporting to a number of government agencies, including NASA, the Department of Defense and several intelligence agencies, including the CIA," and that "White House sources" told him Donald Trump "has personally authorized" a government program using Skywatcher's methods; he attributed each statement to unnamed sources.⁹ The column also states, again on the authority of unnamed sources, that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth "has been tasked with identifying these objects and capturing them for the president" and that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is "also said to be involved."⁹ NewsNation published a related question-and-answer episode on August 7, 2026.¹⁰

Dispute with Luis Elizondo, 2026

On an episode of "Reality Check" reported by NewsNation on June 30, 2026, Coulthart said "There are people who bitterly resent and don't think it's a good idea that Lue be appointed to a position of power in UAP transparency," and "I've spoken to people in the Legacy Program who knew Lue."¹¹ Luis Elizondo told NewsNation's Chris Cuomo that he "didn't say I worked for the Legacy Program," that "I think Ross is an excellent investigative journalist," and that he did not know "where Ross is getting his information; I suspect he has sources."¹¹ On July 29, 2026 NewsNation reported that an anonymous researcher known online as UAPGerb (named Sam in the article), speaking to Coulthart, had said Elizondo and others were part of a "controlled narrative," and that Elizondo, in a YouTube video, called the claims false and told Coulthart "for the love of God, be more careful with who you decide to have on your program."¹²