RT is an autonomous non-profit organization.
Editor-in-Chief of RT
In 2005, Margarita Simonyan launched RT, Russia’s first round-the-clock, English-language, international TV news channel, which has since expanded to a global TV network providing news, current affairs and documentaries in ten languages, and includes sister multimedia news agency RUPTLY.
Under her helm, RT has extended its reach to more than 900 million TV viewers in over 100 countries around the globe, and is an eleven-time Emmy finalist.
In 2013, Margarita Simonyan also became editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, an international media group that includes news agency and radio Sputnik, which broadcasts in more than 30 languages.
Margarita began her journalism career at the local TV and radio station in the Russian city of Krasnodar, eventually heading up a regional bureau for Russia’s largest nationwide broadcaster, VGTRK. As a war correspondent, she reported from the Chechen Republic during the Second Chechen War, from the Beslan School Siege, and from Abkhazia, which earned her several journalism awards.
In 2017, Margarita Simonyan was included in the Forbes Magazine list of the world’s most powerful women, more than a dozen spots higher than former US secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Margarita has been awarded several national honors of the Russian Federation, including the Order of Alexander Nevsky, the Order ‘For Merit to the Fatherland’ of the 3th class for her contribution to the development of journalism, the Order ‘For Merit to the Fatherland’ of the 4th class, the Order of Honor, and the Order of Friendship for ‘contribution to the development of domestic television’.