Russian journalist; on the this moment occupies the post of editor-in-chief of the magazine "Russia Today"
Margarita was born and raised in Krasnodar; in Krasnodar, she graduated from a school with in-depth study foreign languages- and even managed to go to high school exchange in New Hampshire, USA. After studying at the faculty of journalism of the Kuban State University, Simonyan got a job at the Vladimir Pozner School of Television Mastery. After university and school, Margarita went to work in her specialty. In February 1999, Simonyan got a job as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company. Correspondent Margarita turned out to be simply magnificent; Her work has been consistently recognized with various awards. In January 2000, the Union of Journalists of the Kuban awarded Simonyan with the prize "For professional
already in May, the journalist received an award from the All-Russian Competition of Regional Television and Radio Companies for a story about Chechen children who came to rest in Anapa. At about the same time, Margarita received a promotion - she was appointed lead editor of information projects of the television and radio company.
In September 2000, Simonyan's works were again awarded with a high award - this time, with a presidential scholarship. Already in February 2001, Margarita moved to the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company; Simonyan was engaged in reporting from Rostov-on-Don. Margarita also did not stay at this post for a long time - at first she was made a special correspondent for "Ve
tei", and then - in the fall of 2002 - included in the presidential pool.
In September 2004, Simonyan became one of the main observers of the tragic events in Beslan.
Per last years the work of Margarita pretty much replenished her collection of awards; she has two Orders of Friendship (for her contribution to the development of public television and long-term and fruitful work, and for objective coverage of the actions of Georgian aggressors in the territory South Ossetia in August 2008) and the medal "For the Strengthening of the Military Commonwealth". The most recent of her awards, the Movses Khorenatsi medal for a significant contribution to the development of journalism and the highest professionalism, Simonyan received from the hands of the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan
Journalist, TV presenter, writer. The head of the TV channel, a member of the Public Chamber under the President of the Russian Federation, a member of the Board of Directors of Channel One ... I just want to add: an athlete, a Komsomol member and, finally, just a beauty. At the age of 25, she headed Russia Today, an ever-expanding TV channel, which under her leadership becomes not only recognizable, but also alternative source information about what is happening in the world for English, Arabic and Spanish-speaking countries, which, speaking in Congress, cites Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as an example. By the age of 30, she had written and published a fiction book - the novel “To Moscow!”, About the provincial Nora, who, thanks to the oligarch, gets out of a nameless hole in the south of Russia to the capital. She says that at the age of 15, having studied for only a year in the USA, she realized how many stereotypes and lack of freedom in this country. But it is precisely from there that her almost childish “correctness” and law-abidingness: one must be honest, one must work in good faith, lie badly, one cannot take bribes, etc. “A fragile brunette with blue eyes, whose beauty betrays Armenian blood in her, amazes with youth and naturalness against the background of Russian television tycoons,” writes the Polish “Polityka” about her. This outwardly tender and defenseless girl knows exactly (and always knew) what she wants and knows how to achieve her goals. She managed, on the one hand, to take advantage of the wide opportunities that opened up for journalists after the collapse of the USSR, on the other hand, having gone through the formation in the cynical nineties, when it was fashionable to despise one's country, to preserve inner rod, which allows today to win the trust of a foreign audience and promote Russian values in the global media space.
- Margarita! I can imagine how proud your parents and all your Armenian relatives are!
− Yes, of course! She's our girl! (laughs) True, now, probably, less than 10-12 years ago, when I just became a girl to be proud of. In recent years, everyone has somehow got used to it. In addition, from the point of view of many in our south, my career with the appointment of the editor-in-chief of Russia Today seemed to have gone downhill: before, I was shown on TV every day, and with Putin next to me, but now rarely without Putin.
− Today you not only compete with Al-Jazeera, but have also become an alternative source of information for many in the world, broadcasting in English, Spanish and Arabic. Is it difficult to manage a channel that is designed to convey Russia's position to the rest of the world?
- At first it was, of course, difficult. But now everything is fine. To be honest, I did not expect that we would become so visible so soon and so quickly outperform most competitors in numbers. When we started, few people believed in this project. I myself thought that it would be an almost impossible task - to make a worthy international channel in such a time frame, with such a budget and in the absence of such experience in Russia. As a result, in addition to five channels, we have four multimedia portals with a huge number of different projects - from Russian language lessons to a forum on topical issues in the Arab world. We are developing a unique project - a video agency (already 6152 TV channels and agencies from 185 countries of the world have subscribed and use our materials on their airs, that is, they increase our audience many times over). Much more. Just recently, the fifth TV channel RTD was launched - a round-the-clock channel of documentaries about Russia. Last year, we made it to the finals of the TV Oscars, an Emmy International award in the News category.
− Impressive! So you can lose modesty ...
− Easy! (laughs)
- I think that only the qualities and core laid down in childhood could save a 25-year-old girl appointed to such a position from temptations and mistakes. What was your childhood like? What family did you grow up in?
- I have a wonderful family! In general, the most valuable thing in my life was, is and will be - this is my family. Childhood was very bright and happy. Kuban, Sochi. The sun, beaches, breakwaters, hiking in the mountains, then in the forest for dogwood, then catching snakes in the garden, then watering roses, then weeding cilantro, then feeding pigs. When I remember my childhood, I envy myself. A wonderful Armenian family, a bunch of relatives, constant gatherings, guests, backgammon, songs.
- So you are not the daughter of the famous Nikita Simonyan, as many people think?
− No. My father is a refrigerator repairman. Now retired, lives in Krasnodar. He is engaged in hunting and fishing.
- Many people remember you from reports from Chechnya, Beslan. How did your parents let you go then?
- My family, on the one hand, is traditional Armenian, and on the other, very liberal. We were all born in Russia; grandparents - in the Crimea and Sochi. I even had a great-grandfather born in Sochi, I recently found his passport in the attic. Father was born in Sverdlovsk, mother - in Adler. We are, as they say, Russified Armenians. And perhaps that is why some of the rules that are common in other Armenian families were not adopted by us. At the age of 15, I went to study in America for a year and since then I have been in charge of my life. I started working at the age of sixteen, then I often lived in a hostel, I had a completely independent life.
- I can’t believe that an Armenian mother didn’t worry about such a fragile, beautiful daughter, even if she was independent?
- Undoubtedly, not only my mother, but also my father was worried. But the question that I can be released somewhere or not let go was not raised. Parents believed that we were old enough from the age of 14 to make any decisions on our own. Mom categorically did not want me to go to America, but there was not even a topic that could not let me in. This is my life. Mom simply did not help me win a grant for this trip - from the age of 14 I was preparing for this: I collected a bunch of certificates from housing departments, from polyclinics, passed all sorts of tests, bureaucratic troubles, received a passport, agreed with the director and teachers at school about early exams. But since I did it myself, how could I not be allowed to go somewhere?
- With America, everything is clear. But to Chechnya?
- When I went to Chechnya for the first time at the age of nineteen, I hid it from my parents. For the only time in my life I deceived them, realizing that they could go crazy with worry in these ten days. She said that there would be filming on a ship, at sea, so there would be no connection. And only my sister Alice then kept walking, feeling something, and asked her parents where Margarita, what does it mean, at sea, what kind of ship is this, on which there is no communication? This was the beginning of the second war, when Grozny was still not completely surrounded, only 90%. A complete nightmare: shooting, explosions, an utter mess, when you don’t understand where ours are, where strangers are, where to go, what to do. When I returned and my father opened the door for me, he was in shock. I went in dirty, dirty, because there was no water anywhere, I brushed my teeth with dried fruit compote. My father says to me: “Where have you been?!”, I answered: “In Chechnya”. He shouted: “Fool!”, slammed the door, left, he was gone for an hour. Then he returned, silently poured himself a glass, a glass for me and said: "You are my son's place." I haven't drank vodka since. I will never forget it.
- And then there was Beslan. Even from what he saw on TV reports, one could fall into depression. How did you manage to keep your psyche after everything you saw there?
- You know, both before and after Beslan, there were tragic situations and catastrophes in my reporter's life. But Beslan crushed me with a stone slab. After this, you begin to ask yourself and the world questions that you don't need a person to ever ask. Until now, when I accidentally see footage from there, I just sob ... I had an idiopathic urticaria after Beslan, and it does not go away. Doctors say - reaction to severe stress. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, right before my eyes, my hand swells up, or my eye, or my throat, or I get covered with purple blisters all over. The first year after Beslan it was every day, but now it is very rare ...
- You told how sister Alice worried about you. You have one sister, what does she do?
- Native, yes. She is a year younger than me. Lives and works in Sochi, head of the press service of Olimpstroy. There are also cousins, second cousins and sisters - close as relatives. You know how it happens with Armenians (laughs).
- Did you speak Armenian in your parents' house?
– Unfortunately, no, and I don’t know the Armenian language, although thanks to my grandfather, even before I learned to read and write, I knew by heart “The Dog and the Cat”, “The Death of Kikos” by Tumanyan. As a child, my reference book was "David of Sasun". I remember that I even dreamed of him, and I drew him all the time. Such a beautiful Armenian prince on a horse (laughs). Parents spoke different dialects of Armenian and practically did not understand each other. Funny story: when we met, my father did not even immediately understand that my mother was Armenian. My mother does not look like an Armenian, she is bright, European type and her name is Zina. And my mother did not know that my father did not understand that she was Armenian. And one day, when, a few months after they met, her father, in order not to fall asleep at the wheel, asked her to sing, and she sang some Armenian song, he was dumbfounded. "What are you singing?" "Our song" "What does ours mean? Are you also an Armenian?”
- “If the heart of our Motherland was located to the south, we, as a people, would be calmer, carefree-
more tolerant of people and life…” – this is how Nora, the heroine of your book, thinks. And you, Margarita, often declare that you dream of returning back to the south. Isn't this coquetry?
− No. I am absolutely sure that I will return to the south. I really miss Sochi, the Kuban. Of course, this will not happen now and not in five years. But when I finish my active work, I will definitely return. It's normal that people end their careers and go to the sea, to warm places, especially since this is my homeland and I don't want to go abroad. All my relatives are in the south, I spend every summer vacation in Sochi and Krasnodar. Once in my life I went with a friend to Spain, but a week later I spat and flew away to Sochi.
− The publication a year ago of your book “To Moscow!” made a lot of noise. How did you get the idea to write it?
- For as long as I can remember, I have been writing something all the time. First poetry, then some helpless stories. Then, already working as a journalist, she constantly wrote texts. When I started working for Russia Today, I almost stopped writing, but my longing for writing remained. I started this book almost ten years ago and only last year was able to finish it - in three weeks. 
- The Washington Times wrote about you as "doomed to success." This is true?
“I don't live with the feeling that I'm doomed to success. I just really wanted to make a career and for this I did everything that depended on me. In my youth, I was a rabid careerist, I saw nothing but work, of course, there was a personal life and all that, but they were not even in second, but in thirtieth place. Girlfriends remember that everyone is dancing at the party, and Rita is sitting in the corner with newspapers, as usual. I have always been very ambitious and all my life I wanted to break out of the provinces, out of poverty, out of uncertainty about the future. In general, sadly, ambition is the main motivation. It's innate: either a person has it or they don't. In my youth, I thought that I would die if I did not achieve what I aspired to. And I tried: I remember how I sat for hours with a tape recorder and recorded my speech, then I listened - in order to get rid of the Kuban dialect, with which there was no chance to get on television in Moscow. I remember what kind of violence it was on myself - to force myself to speak like that, how my friends laughed at me - they say, why did you start talking like a Muscovite? And luck, of course, must also be. I have always been lucky with people, and in general fate is favorable to me. I achieved what I achieved, and at the same time I did not have to cheat on myself, substitute others, steal or lie. I do what I believe in. There are many wonderful guys, probably smarter and more talented than me, but someone lacked ambition, someone - hard work, and someone - the favor of fate. Everything must come together. In my case, that's probably what happened. 
- As a child, you were probably the ringleader, always the center of attention?
- It's a must! (laughs) kindergarten my teachers called me a “magic wand”. I learned to read early, and when the teachers wanted to go somewhere, I was seated in the center of the circle, and I read a book to the children. And run around the garages, cut off the poles too. I broke my hands five times as a child.
- I believe that even then you should have been envied. Other parents probably told their children, well, they say, Rita already knows how to read ... Do you often encounter envy?
− Like any person whose name is mentioned in Yandex more than five times. You don't have to react to it. Of course, you encounter envy all your life - both at school and at the university, it didn’t start with Russia Today. You just need to understand that envy is a natural phenomenon that accompanies a successful person all his life. Unpleasant, yes, but natural. Like rain, for example. When he walks and there is dirt all around, it’s unpleasant for us, but we understand that this is how nature works. And human nature is arranged in such a way that one cannot do without envy.
− Have you been to Armenia?
- Only once, in 2005. I then worked in the presidential pool as a correspondent, it was a couple of months before being appointed to my current position. We were there only a couple of days, it was a frosty gloomy March, and therefore the sensations from this trip turned out to be somewhat blurred. I know that my impressions of Armenia are still ahead.
- You have a culinary column in the Russian Pioneer magazine. Do you love to cook?
There are few things in life that I love as much as cooking!
- And how are your relations with the Armenian cuisine?
- I love spas, thanov apur, zhingyalov hats. On January 1, I always cook khash, although I don’t eat it myself (M.S.’s column dedicated to khash, see page 19. - Ed.). I cook khashlama a couple of times a month, my husband loves it. Even the mother-in-law learned how to cook it so that she could feed her son when he arrived.
- Margarita! I, like many others, thought that you were a promising Armenian bride. And you, it turns out, have a husband who, moreover, loves khashlama ...
- I have a wonderful husband, we have been living in a civil marriage for six years, and everything is fine with us.
- Doesn't your mother upset that the marriage is civil?
- Mom gets upset when I have a headache or a bad mood. Nothing else upsets her. My mom is an angel. She believes that her children should be a) healthy and b) happy. All the rest is unimportant. And I am married or not married, civil or official marriage - this is not included in the scope of her worries. Daughter is fine, so she is happy. And my father loves my husband very much. I even once asked my father, in his opinion, is it time for us to formalize the relationship. He said that he did not care at all, but in general, who needs these bureaucratic efforts. I think so too. 
- Margarita! The book you wrote is called “To Moscow!”. This is such a cry for many of our compatriots who, some out of desperation, some, guided by other motives, are not afraid to wake up one day and decide: “To Moscow!” What would you advise them?
I don't feel entitled to give advice to anyone. But I can say that I myself would not dare to move to a foreign city when no one is waiting for you there. I remember that in Krasnodar we argued about this with a dozen friends who moved to Moscow just like that - with a bang. They said - I'll go, and then we'll see, I'll go, look for work, get settled. Thank God I didn't have the guts to do that. I was waiting to be called to have a specific job. And waited.
− Russia Today promotes a positive image of Russia abroad. In your opinion, how much does the catastrophic situation that is developing in the country in the field of interethnic relations spoil this image?
- Our TV channel promotes not a positive, but an objective image of Russia. As for interethnic relations, I can say that it is unbearably painful and bitter for me to watch everything that happens in this area. It's horrible, disgusting, vile and scary. And the point is not even whether this affects the image of Russia or not, but that Russia is my Motherland, where I was born, where I live and want to live forever, and whom I love. There is not a drop of Russian blood in me, but I love Russia and imagine that desperate times may come when I would have to leave here - I don’t even want to talk about it ... 
This issue is being discussed in many structures, including the Committee on Interethnic Relations and Freedom of Conscience of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, where I am a member. But it is obvious that to resolve this issue, a huge complex Government program, we need a recognition that there are long-standing difficult problems with historical and geopolitical background, we need a keen understanding of what all this can lead to if we don’t deal with it on our own high level. It is inconceivable that today representatives of some indigenous peoples of Russia raise their children in contempt for other indigenous peoples of Russia. And that's how it happens.
“This is a huge danger. Including for the Russian statehood.
− Absolutely. But how to deal with this and how to solve this problem, I do not know. I'm not a politician, but I would be happy if I showed up statesman who could handle it. &
Interviewed Lusik Ghukasyan
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I haven't shared my cooking columns with you for a long time. Tsavt tanem. Enjoy!
Tsavt Tanem
What can be said in defense of hash? Nothing. This dish is fatty, heavy and high-calorie. And very masculine. One is not
a very beautiful legend says that khash cannot bear three things. Firstly, cognac, because only vodka, honest and merciless, like a horseman going on the attack, is combined with khash - a dish that does not tolerate compromises. Secondly, khash does not like toasts, because as long as the zhigit says everything he has to say about his homeland, his parents, his friends, their parents and their parents' parents, khash will cool down to such and such a grandmother. And finally, khash does not digest women, because a woman should not carry garlic. In case the horseman, after khash and vodka, is impatient to immediately continue his family. It’s mutual with hash - I don’t digest it either. I have never eaten it in my life and never will. As a child, they tried to feed me -
vat hashem so that I finally stop wringing my hands once a year. Khash is believed to strengthen bones. This does not surprise me: for people who are able to eat it, everything must be strong - the bones, the esophagus, and the stomach. A nervous system so it should be titanium. I remember how, at the age of seven, I had an unfortunate fall in physical education and began to ask that they not take me to a music school on the piano that day, but take me to
instead, go to the emergency room for x-rays. For three days I whined: “Mommy, daddy, my hands hurt, it seems I broke them again.” But since the child was a chronic whiner, the adults answered: “You always have something in pain. Until the wedding will heal. Go play scales!" When on the fourth day I'm all-
I was taken to the emergency room (you know, there are some children who are easier to take somewhere than to explain why they don’t need to go there) - it turned out that all the bones in both hands above my wrists were broken. Mom immediately cooked khash. But she couldn't even get me to smell it. I said that I would die immediately, and this time they believed me. After the story with the emergency room, my parents, who were bitten by conscience, began to believe in the seriousness of any intentions of my body. So what if I really die? About fractures, they also thought that I was exaggerating. Honestly, I don’t understand how you can eat this yellow, fat, thin horror. Premature jelly, unfinished jelly, aspic, who committed suicide out of disgust for people and for his own mediocrity. And the smell! Can you imagine what khash smells like at the stage of its preparation? It smells like beef stomach. Just imagine how a beef stomach must smell, in which beef digests its chewed gum. Imagined? That's right, that's exactly what it smells like. Some sanctimonious people call the stomach the harmless word "rumen." Pharisees! The stomach is the stomach in the pan. Whoever did not smell the beef tripe at the stage of the first boiling, he knows neither life nor death, nor sacrifice, nor feat, and still, like a baby, believes that we are born for joy, and not for longing. Such a person still believes in Santa Claus and doubling GDP. But the Armenians know about life and death firsthand. Armenia adopted Christianity almost a hundred years before the Roman Empire, the first of all states. These people, before others, were aware that a person was born not for any joy, but for suffering and redemption. So they came up with hash. Like all the best in this world - like pizza, fondue and onion soup, - hash was invented by the poor. Antediluvian - in the truest sense of the word! - the Armenian bourgeoisie threw hooves and fetid entrails of bulls killed for meat on the slopes of the Biblical Mountain. The bourgeois, as usual, preferred tenderloin and entrecote, while the hooves and stomachs went to the proletariat. The proletariat cooked a monstrously satisfying dish out of garbage, ate it early in the morning and plowed after that, like those dead bulls, all day without requiring additional feed. Other peoples, who also revere khash as their national food, have other theories of the origin of khash, and peoples have a right to this. We must be respectful of the misconceptions of others. Like those antediluvian peasants, khash houses in Armenia still open at seven in the morning. At about the same time, on the same sad, joyless day, guests come to our house every year. You guessed what day it is and why it is bleak. The first of January is the annual small death of an entire huge country and its former union republics. Noah knew where to moor - nothing is wiser and more philanthropic than curing a hangover with a plate of hot khash, mankind has not invented. No offense to cucumber pickle will be said. That is why, although I don’t eat this male khash, I still cook it every year. There is also a horseman in my house, and even more so there are a lot of them among our guests. Dzhigits must be fed until they lose their pulse. It is such a shame not to feed the guests until they lose their pulse, my great-great-grandmothers in heaven would die of shame if they saw this. And what can you feed hungover horsemen who, although they drank so much the day before that they are now very ill, still want to drink more, but at the same time so that it does not get even worse? Only hashem. Although I don’t like khash, I respect it because it is like barbecue, like pilaf, like satsivi, like any non-Russian dish that is loved in Russia, - living testimony friendship of peoples and common world-peace. By the way, about the "peace-peace" - I have been friends with the famous TV journalist Irada Zeynalova for many years. She is, you guessed it, ethnic Azeri. And I, as you also know, ethnic vice versa. Once on a business trip, I checked into a hotel complex in Dagomys. And in this hotel complex a seminar of journalists of the Caucasus was held. I stand at the reception, fill out a questionnaire. Suddenly, an unfamiliar woman, a journalist from the Caucasus, comes up to me. And says:
- It's really you! Crazy, it's like you're alive! I wanted to tell you, you are the pride of our people! We all love you and are proud of you! You are an example for our children. You can’t even imagine what will happen when I return to Baku and tell you that I saw Irada Zeynalova alive!
Well, what should we share with Irada after that? However, I'm not talking about that. It's better not to talk about it at all. I'm talking about what's in good home decent hostess, loving her horsemen, in advance New Year he will buy beef hooves at the market, reluctantly he will even buy a beef stomach, a ton of good garlic, a carload of pita bread and a container of cilantro.
Take these hooves and scrape off all the rubbish that they have grown over during the hard life of a beef. And then put your hooves all night in a cold stream. No stream? Sell your apartment, quit your job, and drive to the stream. At worst - to the lake (I recommend Sevan). Well, okay, put the legs in the sink under the faucet - that will do too. Turn off the water meter and keep your hooves under the tap for twelve hours. Unless, of course, your horsemen are seriously going to eat it. Then soaked feet should be poured with water and boiled without salt and pepper. new year's eve. They do not ask for food, unlike guests. Put them in a thick saucepan on a small fire and forget about them until the morning. To remove foam and fat all the way is for aesthetes. And we cook hash for horsemen. Beef stomachs, they are a tripe, cook separately, change the water periodically and close the nose. If you cook them together with your legs, then even the most inveterate of all your horsemen will not be able to eat it. The guests are slowly gathering. They congratulate each other, some president congratulates them. They drink and talk about their own, about Dzhigit: not about love, not about children, and not about a new diet. What they are talking about is deeply violet to you, irrelevant and parallel. You don't give a damn about their Vancouver, their engine size, their Pavlyuchenko, their dollars and loans, again their Vancouver and some kind of sports minister, who completely. Just when Vancouver goes to the second round with the jigits, your khash will finally boil - so that all the bones will fly out of the meat by themselves. You now have to show the wonders of female dedication. All these bones must be removed from the hot greasy mess with your hands. And cut the scar, about which I have already said everything. Then you need to throw the tripe into the broth, boil everything again and keep it hot all day. Your drunk horsemen will have time to fall asleep and wake up during this time. They will wake up with a disgusting headache. There is such a thing in the Armenian language set expression: "Tsavatanem". In principle, it is used at the same time when in Russian we would say something like: “Yes, you are my gold!” Literally, "tsavatanem" means "I will take away your pain." This is exactly what your hash will do in relation to your horsemen now. He will take away their pain. Qualified horsemen, who know a lot about life and death, eat khash like this: each guest is given a bowl of wildly hot soup, a decanter of wildly cold vodka, a bowl of crushed garlic and salt, pita bread dried overnight, a pod of red pepper and a bowl of chopped cilantro. Then - attention! - Dzhigit is covered with a plaid with his head and plates. And he is there inside, in intimacy and joy, begins to be treated. Don't disturb him. Let the dzhigit selflessly heal. May he never break his arms again. And firewood, too, never breaks again. And, moreover, let him never break spears. May they never be of use to him again. Let him drink for his Motherland. And for someone else's homeland, too. Now - for the parents. For the parents of the parents. For friends. For the neighbors. For the friendship of peoples. For world peace.
Biography of Margarita Simonyan
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan was born in Krasnodar on April 6, 1980. She studied at a school with in-depth study of foreign languages, which allowed her to get into an exchange program and go to the USA, to the state of New Hampshire.
According to Margarita herself, during this trip she was imbued with "some skepticism about democracy and a persistent hostility to American values."
A collection of her poems, published when she was 18, acted as a kind of ticket to journalism. The book interested the editors of one of the local TV channels ("Krasnodar") and a film crew came to Simonyan. During the filming of the story, she admitted that she would like to be a journalist, and soon (1999) she got an internship at the editorial office of the same channel.
As she later said, they managed to make stories even for federal channels. ("My father bought me an Oka ... and I drove it around the region with a cameraman for a couple of years: I filmed stories and sent them to Moscow").
Thus, already having experience in practical activities, without interruption from permanent job, Simonyan graduated from the Vladimir Pozner School of Television Excellence, and later became a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of the Kuban State University.
Chechen reporting Simonyan, work at the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company
A series of reports was filmed in Chechnya, and soon, in January 2000, Margarita received the Kuban Union of Journalists Award "For Professional Courage". Somewhat later, within II All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies, she was awarded for a report on Chechen children vacationing in Anapa.
In the same 2000, Simonyan was appointed lead editor of the information programs of the Krasnodar TV and Radio Company. After some time, she moved to the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, becoming a correspondent in Rostov-on-Don, then a correspondent for Vesti (having moved to Moscow in 2002). She even joined the presidential pool of journalists. But she was not limited to official topics - when the tragic events in Beslan took place in September 2004, she also covered them, for which she subsequently received a medal from the Ministry of Defense "For Strengthening the Combat Commonwealth".
Margarita Simonyan and Russia Today
In April 2005, Simonyan, then 25 years old, became the head of the new TV channel Russia Today (RT). The founder of this media, which, as stated, is intended to create " positive image Russia" was made by the agency "RIA Novosti".
In December 2007, she was also appointed editor-in-chief of the Arabic version ("Rusiya Al-Yaum") and later of the Spanish version.
According to Margarita herself, the Russia Today channel, despite scarce funding, managed to surpass many Western TV channels in popularity, including France 24, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, Al Jazeera English.
However, she is engaged not only in news, regularly since 2009 publishing "culinary columns" in the journal "Russian Pioneer", and also releasing the novel "To Moscow!" (2010).
- This is a story about a country, about love and about provincial boys and girls born in the 1980s. We all dreamed of leaving for Moscow for a better life, and none of us knew that we had to be more careful in our desires - they could come true,- Simonyan told the correspondent of Krasnodar News.
Soon Margarita became the winner of the annual award for the best book journalist. Somewhat earlier, in 2009, she joined the Public Chamber, dealing there, according to the press, with “issues of tolerance, interethnic relations and the Caucasus.” In addition, she was a member of the Public Council at the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate, vice-president of the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters (NAT) , member of the Academy of Russian Television and the Public Olympic Council.
In the spring of 2011, her informational and analytical program "What's going on?" began to air on the Ren-TV channel. ("like a blog, only rendered"). In the summer of the same year, Simonyan, in her status as editor-in-chief of Russia Today, became a member of the board of directors of Channel One. And remains in its composition today.
Margarita entered the list of the hundred most powerful women Russia (compiled by the radio station, Ekho Moskvy, as well as RIA Novosti and Ogonyok), being in 33rd place. In August 2012, she also became a member expert council under the Cabinet of Ministers of Russia.
In the first half of 2013, she again appears on the TV screen as a host (political talk show "Iron Ladies").
This time, already on the NTV channel, and not alone, but with Tina Kandelaki. True, this tandem did not last long - from February to June.
At the end of December 2013, Margarita Simonyan became the editor of the new international news agency Rossiya Segodnya, which replaced RIA Novosti. At the same time, she remains the head of the channel.
“This key position could only be occupied by a person with a brilliant journalistic reputation and modern managerial skills,” Dmitry Kiselev, CEO of Rossiya Segodnya, commented at the time.
"The focus of the work will be on increasing the share of exclusive information and creating an agenda that would be different from that adopted in most media. Often journalists from the mainstream media, especially in the United States and Western Europe, prefer not to notice those problems in their countries, on which they tend to criticize others, including Russia. On many world issues - take, for example, the situation around Ukraine and Crimea, Syria, Iran, the situation in the United States itself - the vast majority of the media take the same position. They are the same. We are others. At the same time, the public abroad is in need of such an alternative point of view," Simonyan herself explained the vector of her work.
She also added that "The Agency will tell not only and not so much about Russia, but to the world community about world events, but with a Russian perspective. Russia is a leading global player, and its voice should always be heard."
In October 2013, former employees of the Rusiya-al-Yaum (Russia Today) TV channel were reported to have written an open letter to President Vladimir Putin. According to them, the project of the Arabic-language version of the channel is consistently falling apart by the leadership of RT and personally by Margarita Simonyan.
“The main criterion in the selection of new employees was not knowledge and ability to work, but loyalty,” the authors of this appeal, published on the Argumenty Nedeli website, noted.
Another fact: in August 2014, the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting included Simonyan in the list of 49 Russian journalists who are banned from entering the country.
A little earlier, in May, Margarita was among the media representatives awarded by Vladimir Putin "for objectivity in covering events in Crimea"
She is also a laureate of the Media Manager of Russia award (2014).
Margarita Simonyan, personal life
As for her personal life, it is known that Simonyan was in a civil marriage with journalist and producer Andrei Blagodyrenko, then she began dating director Tigran Keosayan. In 2013, a daughter was born, and in 2014, the son of Simonyan and director Tigran Keosayan was born.
In her interviews, she calls cooking her hobby, remarking with humor that "I was born a cook and accidentally became a journalist."
Today it is not surprising that many star husbands leave the family and continue their lives with young wives. This list can include many famous men. These are Oleg Tabakov, Sergey Bezrukov, Valery Meladze, and also Tigran Keosayan, who, after twenty years of marriage with Alena Khmelnitskaya, went to Margarita Simonyan. The couple even had children: Maryana and Bagrat. What motivates men to do such things? Are males looking for new females or is it love? Let's try to understand our article: Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan, children, photos, details and secret romance.
Margarita Simonyan: biography
Margarita Simonyan is a native of Krasnodar born in 1980. The girl was born and raised in a poor family. Her father earned food by repairing refrigerators, and her mother traded in the market. Unfavorable living conditions prompted the girl to achieve great success in life. So, already in kindergarten, she was the first to learn to read, later she was enrolled in a school with a bias in learning foreign languages, where she was one of the best students. In high school, she won her place in an exchange study abroad and lived and studied in America for several years. Initially, Margarita planned to continue her journey in the United States, but still decided to return to Russia and get an education in State University Kuban at the Faculty of Journalism.
Margarita's career
Margarita began her career with the Krasnodar TV and radio channel, where she began working as a correspondent. At the age of 19, she leaves for Chechnya, where she shoots a report in a war zone. Such a plot brings the girl not only fame, but also several awards for courage.
In 2000, Margarita became the chief editor of the TV channel, and in 2002 she was invited to Moscow as a special journalist for the Vesti TV program. Thanks to her talent and professionalism, the girl is included in the presidential pool of journalists. Since 2005, she has worked as the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, and in 2013 she was appointed head of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.
Tigran Keosayan: biography
Tigran Keosayan was born in 1966 into a Moscow family strongly associated with the world of cinema. His father is a recognized director, screenwriter and actor, his mother is a famous Armenian actress, and his older brother connected his life with television. Therefore, from a very young age, Tigran knew exactly who he should be and where to do. But he never entered the University of Cinematography, the reason for this turn of events was an article in Izvestia, in which the journalist presented a colorful story about how a famous director is trying to get his worthless son to university. But this situation only strengthened Tigran's desire, and he entered the university at the directing department.
Career
In 1990, Keosayan and Bondarchuk decide to start their creative path together and are engaged in filming clips for pop stars and commercials. In 1991, the comedy "Joker" with Keosayan in the leading role was released. In the same year, he tries himself as a director of the film "Katka and Shoes". But the New Year's comedy "Poor Sasha" brings real fame to the director, which, according to TEFI, became the best film of 1997. The director has many well-known films and series on his account, as well as participation in various television programs. By the way, from 2009 to 2011, the director hosted the You and Me program together with his wife. But soon rumors began to circulate that children would soon be born to the couple Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan - a photo of a pregnant journalist who Lately increasingly appeared near the director, led to the thought of a broken marriage.
Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan
Before his marriage to Margarita Simonyan, the director was married to actress Alena Khmelnitskaya, known for the film "Hearts of Three". The couple lived for 20 years, two daughters were born in marriage: Alexandra and Ksenia. For a long time, journalists called Tigran and Alena strong family, which is very rare in the world of show business. But in 2011, the director increasingly began to appear in public without his wife, and in 2012 they began to notice him in the company of journalist Margarita Simonyan.
In 2013, one of the most beautiful couples divorced. This news has taken the internet by storm. Rumors about an office romance between the director and a journalist have been circulating for a long time and that Margarita gave birth to a daughter, Maryana, from Keosayan. Many still hoped that such rumors were just the machinations of the yellow press, but when Margarita gave birth to a son, Bagrat, in 2014, the director did not deny and on one of the pages shared the news that he had become a father.
(1980-04-06 ) (32 years)Russia
Margarita Simonovna Simonyan(April 6, Krasnodar, Krasnodar Territory, RSFSR, USSR) - Russian journalist, editor-in-chief of the TV channel "".
Leads a culinary column in the Russian Pioneer magazine. Member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation of the third composition (2010-2012). Member of the Public Council at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Moscow.
From January to March 2012, she was a member of the "People's Headquarters" (in Moscow) of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin.
Education
She graduated from school number 36 with in-depth study of foreign languages in Krasnodar. In the tenth grade, to improve her English, she was sent on an exchange to New Hampshire, USA.
Journalism and creativity
This is a story about a country, about love, and about provincial boys and girls born in the 1980s. We all dreamed of leaving for Moscow for a better life, and none of us knew that we had to be more careful in our desires - they could come true, - Margarita Simonyan, interview with Krasnodar News
From April 2011 to February 2012, she hosted the weekly analytical program What's Going On? on the Ren TV channel.
In June 2011, Simonyan, as the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, became a member of the board of directors of Channel One.
In 2012, Margarita Simonyan entered the list of the hundred most influential women in Russia, taking 33rd place in it. The rating was compiled by representatives of three media outlets - Ekho Moskvy, RIA Novosti and Ogonyok.
Awards
Criticism
On October 16, 2012, in her column on radio Kommersant-FM, Mrs. Simonyan spoke about Russian student Denis Telyakov. He studied in Canada, and got into a local prison and was badly beaten. At the end, Mrs. Simonyan stated that only her channel Russia Today covered this story, and the American and Canadian media silenced this story. She summed up her story as follows: In general, I looked at this story, and I was somehow offended. For the leading Western media, that they are so fake. As if not the media at all, but the information support of NATO special operations. For Canada - it all seems to us that it doesn’t happen with them, it’s only with us, and they have grapes on fences and in puddles - sterile milk. But what hurts me the most for us is that we are so quiet. We are beaten, but we are silent. I’ll tell you on the radio - maybe someone will hear?.
Draw of Sungorkin
On December 14, 2012, at 4:00 pm Moscow time, Vladimir Sungorkin, editor-in-chief of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, received a fax message from the US Embassy in the Russian Federation, according to which his visa was canceled due to the signing of the Magnitsky Act by President Barack Obama. An analytical article was written on the KP website on this subject, in which.
On Twitter, this news was actively spread by the editor-in-chief of Russia Today TV channel Margarita Simonyan. She reacted harshly to this, stating that: “It is clear that the editor-in-chief of the Komsomolskaya Pravda was denied a US visa not because he tortured Magnitsky, but because the US does not like what they write there” and “In general, bravo . Freedom as it is. Learn, comrades. A scanned fax from the embassy was also published by Simonyan with the note “Do we go on mocking?”
The authenticity of the document was immediately questioned by the editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station Alexei Venediktov, since the vice consul Aleta Kovensky indicated in the letter works as the US consul in Turkmenistan, and the form on which the notification is written differs from those usually used by the embassy USA in Russia in his correspondence. In addition, the law was signed by Barack Obama only at 21:00 Moscow time, and five hours before that had no significance. At the same time, Sungorkin's visa number indicated in the letter differed from the original one.
Ekho Moskvy journalists contacted the American embassy staff, who reported that no letters had been sent to Sungorkin. After that, the note about Sungorkin's visa on the KP website was deleted, because he turned out to be the victim of a prank. After this became clear, a refutation appeared on Simonyan’s Twitter: “About the States, in this particular case, I take my words back. However, there will still be a reason.
Journalist Oleg Kashin noted that The most charming thing about the whole fax story is that the two editors-in-chief didn't believe the fake fax, but their own propaganda. So much was said about the "paradoxes of the empire of law, democracy and justice" that they themselves believed in them.. In addition, he noted that without the reaction of Margarita Simonyan, the draw would not have been complete, since when a person who personally symbolizes the complacency and impenetrability of the propaganda class of Putin's Russia suddenly demonstrates obvious fear, it is difficult to remain indifferent to this .
Political views
According to Mrs. Simonyan, free elections in Russian Federation Fascists come to power. Before the rally on December 10, 2011 against fraud in the parliamentary elections, the journalist spoke about possible unrest at this action, but in the end she herself turned out to be a participant.
Personal life
Margarita Simonyan has been living in a civil marriage since 2005 with journalist and TV producer Andrei Blagodyrenko.