Ekaterina Gracheva

 Ekaterina Gracheva is a news reporter for RT.

She joined the team back in 2005 as a broadcast journalist, which she says gave her a great insight into how the media machine works.

She became known to RT viewers after she launched the Moscow Out series of programmes about the vibrant life of the Russian capital.

Ekaterina holds a degree in journalism of the Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO).

She has never lived or studied abroad, yet Ekaterina speaks fluent Italian, German, English and passable Portuguese (passable enough to interview Cristiano Ronaldo during Euro 2004).

Before taking up the position as correspondent, Ekaterina had written for the Moscow Times, Forbes, and magazines Harper’s Bazaar and Afisha.

With RT she reported live from Belgrade in 2008, when Dima Bilan brought Russia its first ever victory in the Eurovision Song Contest. She reported on recent anti-government protests in Vilnius, Lithuania, and contributed to RT’s ‘Russia Close-Up’ series.

“The best lesson of journalism I’ve ever been given was in 1999, when I was 16. My editor then told me – ‘Your scripts are too smart. Remember – you should treat your readers as if they were all doctors in philosophy, but write as simple, so that even a child could understand you.’ I’ve applied this rule in my work ever since.”

As a reporter Ekaterina doesn’t miss any details. She’s convinced that to make a good story you don’t have to travel for miles. The most interesting things can happen just next door. “If a topic engages you, your mom and a couple of your friends, it will most probably engage an audience of several million people”.

Away from work Ekaterina collects films in Italian and restores antique furniture. Both, she says, are great investments of time.