Fatima Manji

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

Manji was born in Peterborough in 1985. She lived in Netherton, Peterborough and was educated at Jack Hunt School She was active at the city's Burton Street Mosque and later studied Politics at the London School of Economics. 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".

She began her journalistic career as a trainee at the BBC, reporting for BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and later becoming a reporter and presenter for BBC Look East. During her time at the BBC, she investigated hate crime against migrants and pressure on housing services. She also reported for the BBC World Service from Sarajevo, Bosnia. In 2012, Manji joined Channel 4 News as a Reporter and became a newsreader in March 2016. "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. 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. Manji was also finalist in Broadcast category of "Words by Women Awards", UK awards for female journalists. 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 attack. Manji responded to MacKenzie in a comment piece for the Liverpool Echo in which she referred to The Sun's coverage of the Hillsborough disaster, and the contentious and inaccurate front page put together by MacKenzie.

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