Hot Shots 2026: Maral Shafafy

A multiskilled journalist who operates across the full technical, editorial and creative processes of broadcasting, Maral Shafafy has made a huge impression in just two and a half years at ITV News.

Maral shoots and edits across both domestic and international assignments while producing stories from end to end, securing access, filming, editing, and driving multi-platform reach through social media edits and blog posts.

She’s led the way in coverage of two key international power bases: the US and Iran. After only a year as a camera journalist, Maral was picked for ITV’s newly-created Washington DC posting, where she delivered high-profile coverage from both the Oscars and the UN and scooped the UK’s first sit-down interviews with detained US students Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi. She was also the only broadcaster present when a professor known as Dr Anti-Fa was forced to flee the country under death threats.

Back in the UK, Maral has become part of the core team of ITV’s Iran Unit, where she has won plaudits for cultivating trust and approaching stories with intelligence and empathy. She has, for example, helped a secret filmmaker to smuggle out footage and then edited it into a piece offering a unique inside view of the war.

“Maral is an exceptional camera journalist with a rare combination of skills that set her apart from many of her peers,” says ITV News head of technical and field services Rob Turner. “It is unusual to find someone who can operate at such a high level both editorially and technically, but Maral consistently delivers in both disciplines.

“Her camera work is of an exceptionally high standard, with the eye and instincts of an experienced director of photography. At the same time, she conducts interviews with the confidence, composure and editorial judgement of a correspondent.

“Maral is already on a remarkable trajectory and has all the attributes to become one of the standout camera journalists of her generation.”