Fatima Manji

Fatima Manji (born 28 November 1985) is a British television journalist and newsreader,^[1] working for Channel 4 News. Manji became Britain's first hijab-wearing TV newsreader in March 2016.^[2]

Manji was born in Peterborough in 1985.^[3][4] She lived in Netherton, Peterborough^[5] and was educated at Jack Hunt School.^[1] She was active at the city's Burton Street Mosque^[6] and later studied Politics at the London School of Economics.^[7] She "made a really informed career decision at the age of eight. I wanted to be where history is made, I wanted to be in the centre of things", she told The Guardian in December 2016 about wanting to become a journalist. "No one told me I'd be standing in a muddy field talking about floods, in waders. Maybe if they had, I'd have rethought".^[8]

She began her career in journalism as a trainee at the BBC, reporting for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and later becoming a reporter and presenter for BBC Look East. During her period with the BBC, she investigated hate crime against migrants and pressure on housing services.^[9] She also reported for the BBC World Service from Sarajevo, Bosnia.^[10] In 2012, Manji joined Channel 4 News as a Reporter and became a newsreader in March 2016.^[2] "Channel 4 News is to be commended for pioneering this move, particularly as a mere 0.4% of British journalists are Muslim", wrote Remona Aly, citing a study by City University London, in an article for The Guardian about Manji wearing a hijab, or headscarf.^[11] In 2015, Manji presented Britain's first ever alternative election debate featuring young leaders on Channel 4.

In 2015, Manji was a finalist for the Royal Television Society's Young Journalist of the Year award.^[12] Manji was also finalist in the Broadcast category of the Words by Women Awards for female journalists.^[13] She was named "Media Personality of the Year" at the Asian Media Awards in 2016.

In July 2016, Kelvin MacKenzie wrote a column for The Sun in which he questioned whether it was appropriate for Manji to present the news wearing a hijab following the 2016 Nice truck attack.^[14] Manji responded to MacKenzie in a comment piece for the Liverpool Echo^[15] in which she referred to The Sun's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, and the contentious and inaccurate front page put together by MacKenzie.

Ofcom received 17 complaints about Manji's appearance in a hijab on Channel 4 News shortly after the Nice attack but found there was no basis in the Broadcasting Code leading them to investigate further.^[16] The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) received more than 1,700 complaints over MacKenzie's article. Kelvin MacKenzie was "entitled", IPSO ruled on 19 October 2016, to criticise Manji: "The article did not include a prejudicial or pejorative reference to the complainant on the grounds of her religion".^[17] Manji responded to the ruling on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme objecting to the implied suggestion "that I am somehow sympathetic to a perpetrator of a terrorist attack" and commenting "effectively it is" now "open season on minorities, and Muslims in particular".^[18]

• Fatima Manji at Channel 4
• Fatima Manji at IMDb