Mishal Husain to leave BBC

Mishal Husain will leave the BBC in the new year.

Mishal has been a presenter on the Today programme for the last eleven years and hosts The Today Debate, as well as the recent BBC UK general election debates. She joined the BBC in 1998 and was previously a presenter on BBC World News.

Mishal Husain says: "My time at the BBC has involved many memorable moments, going to places I would never otherwise have seen, witnessing history and being part of live, national conversation on Radio 4.

"I will always be grateful for the opportunities the BBC gave me, and wish the organisation and everyone who is part of it the very best."

Editor of Today, Owenna Griffiths, says: "Mishal is not only a formidable journalist and first-rate presenter, she is an extremely generous and thoughtful colleague. It has been my great privilege to work alongside her and, along with the Today team, I'll miss her enormously but wish her all the very best in her new venture."

CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness says: "Mishal leaves the BBC with an incredible journalistic legacy. After more than a decade on the Today programme she is going with our gratitude and affection and we wish her the best of luck in her new chapter. I very much hope the BBC and Mishal will get the chance to work together again one day."

Director of Speech and Controller of BBC Radio 4 Mohit Bakaya says: "Mishal’s calm, yet forensic, interviewing style has been one of the standout features of her time on the Today programme. She is a brilliant journalist with a broad intellectual hinterland. Radio 4 listeners have been waking up to her warm and trusted voice for more than a decade and we respect her decision to set the alarm clock to a different hour. She’ll be greatly missed, but we wish her all the best with what comes next."

Biography

Mishal started her BBC career as a producer in 1998, becoming a presenter on BBC World News in 2001 and working both in the studio and on location, from the US to the Middle East, South Asia, Singapore and China. In 2014 she was the first reporter to enter the school attacked by the Taliban in Peshawar, Pakistan, and in 2017 her engagement interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was seen around the world. Since 2013 she has been a presenter of the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 and also appeared on the BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten. Her TV documentaries have included a three-part series on the life of Mahatma Gandhi; How Facebook Changed the World about the Arab uprisings of 2011; Malala – Shot for Going to School and The Longest Reign, which aired after the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

She was live on air on Radio 4 for the announcement of Her Majesty’s passing and presented from outside Westminster Abbey for the radio coverage of the funeral, as well as for the King’s coronation the following year.

She was named the Voice of the Viewer and Listener ‘Best Contributor to Audio’ of 2023 and hosted two election debates for the BBC during the 2024 election campaign, including with Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, days before the vote.

This year she won the London Press Club’s ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ and, earlier this month, the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Journalism.

CM7