Madiha Rashid Al-Madfai

Madiha Rashid Al-Madfai (died 26 November 2019) was a Palestinian radio broadcaster for BBC Arabic. She was the first woman to broadcast news bulletins on BBC Arabic and presented multiple political programmes of a serious nature such as Panorama and Opinion and Other Opinion of which the Arabic public were unfamiliar with. Al-Madfai had also worked for the Voice of Palestine from Cairo and worked on the Jordanian radio industry. She retired from radio broadcasting in 2000.

Background and education Al-Madfai was a from Jordanian national who was born in Palestine. She was the daughter of the Jordanian government minister Rashid Al-Madfai. She graduated from The American University in Cairo after studying journalism and political science. Al-Madfai completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in political science at the University of London in the mid-1980s.

Career Following graduation from The American University in Cairo, she spent a few months working for the Voice of Palestine radio station in Cairo and then went on to join the Jordanian radio scene. Al-Madfai began working for BBC Arabic Radio in 1960, presenting variety programmes before going to read political news bulletins, the latter of which was dominated by men. Seven years later, Al-Madfai retired from the radio industry.

Personal life She was married to the broadcaster Nadim Nasser. Al-Madfai died in London on 26 November 2019.

Legacy She was recognizable by the announcement "The news bulletin from the BBC read to you by Madiha Rashid al-Madfai" Al-Madfai helped to establish a precedent for other women in the Arab world to get into radio such as Huda Al-Rasheed, Salwa Jarrah, Hala Salah El-Din, Samia Al-Atrash, Nadia Saleh and Afaf Jalal among others.