15 Years of Airtime for Russian News Channel RT

RT, one of the world’s most viewed news channels, is celebrating 15 years of airtime this week.

On December 10, 2005, RT first took to the air. Millions of viewers around the world have embraced the Russian channels’ view of global news ever since

The award-winning channel started with an English language channel working out of Moscow, but it now broadcasts in six different languages from hubs around the world.

In fact, experts have estimated its weekly viewers to be around the 100 million mark. RT also holds the honour of being the first news site to reach the 10 billion viewer mark on Youtube, beating the likes of CNN and Sky News to that accolade.

With contributors from throughout the world, including the likes of TV legend, Larry King, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmon, it is unsurprising that many have tuned into the channel to keep up on the world’s day-to-day happenings.

It is celebrating its 15 years with a series of humorous films, spoofing the likes of Cold War era films and deep fake political videos.

RT’s Editor-in-Chief, Margarita Simonyan, stuck with this tongue-in-cheek attitude when speaking of the celebrations, stating: “Dear foreign intelligence services: sleep easy tonight. I promise that we’re taking a day off from meddling, in honor of RT’s anniversary.”

Considering the last 15 years, it will be interesting to see what the future has in store for the channel.