Career Background

Katya's journalistic career began in Vienna with the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation where she reported across Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, covering the Kosovo war and fallout for NATO in 1999.

She joined the BBC firstly as a freelancer from Vienna, then in London from 2000, covering European affairs as both presenter and roving reporter. She commuted weekly to Berlin too, appearing as a news anchor on Deutsche Welle Television.

In 2003, Katya became the BBC's Madrid correspondent, covering the Madrid train bombings in 2004. She also travelled regularly across the continent to cover breaking stories.

In 2006, she became the BBC's Middle East correspondent based out of Jerusalem, specialising in conflict reporting throughout the Middle East.

Katya was appointed the BBC’s Europe Editor in 2014, co-presenting the award winning Brexitcast podcast during the Brexit process.

Awards

In acknowledgement of her expertise and extensive reporting, Katya has been awarded two honorary doctorates (Bristol University and University of London). She was named Broadcast Journalist of the year at the Political Society Awards 2018 and one of Politico’s top most influential people in Brussels, in 2017. In 2019 Katya was named Broadcast Journalist of the Year, alongside her BBC colleague, Laura Kuenssberg by the London Press Club. She is also the 2019 recipient of the the British Journalism Review and University of Westminster's Charles Wheeler award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcast Journalism. The Brexitcast podcast which she co-hosted with three other colleagues received the Listeners Choice award at the British podcast awards 2019 - the same year as the London Evening Standard newspaper named her as one of the city's most influential people. In 2022 Bristol University named Katya their Arts and Media Alumnus of the Year.

Linguist

Katya speaks fluent German, Italian, Spanish, and French plus some Arabic and Hebrew, in addition to her mother-tongue, English.

‍